


Cyberpunk: V Squared

by SandHand



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game), cyberpunk - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crimes & Criminals, Cyberpunk, Future, Language, Mystery, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2020-10-19 07:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20653238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandHand/pseuds/SandHand
Summary: Night City is a city of millions and millions more arrive everyday. One of the new arrivals is here to do a job, something simple, but nothing is simple in a city where everyone has a job to do and is willing to do anything to get it done. She comes across a resident of the city and the two team up to help each other out.





	1. New Arrivals

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really excited for this game, especially to make a bunch of characters with some sort of silly backstory that won't matter much to the actual game. This was an idea I had for a series/story involving the two versions of V we've been seeing in promotional material. Not sure how long it'll be but I'll just write and we'll see where it goes. I hope you enjoy.

The train hit another short bump shuffling the occupants a bit. A few bits of trash on the ground hopped or rolled around but other than that the jostle went mostly unnoticed by all but the girl standing in the back of the car near the window. She had never been on a train before. She though the worst of it would be the people, so many packed in close together, but ultimately the train was very spacious, and it wasn’t even half full. She also thought the cleanliness might be questionable and it sure as hell was; but the worst thing was defiantly all the small bumps and shakes. She wasn’t scared of the train derailing, or falling on her face, it just wasn’t natural. Every little jerk sent her into a small state of alertness; the sooner she was off this train the better. Once she was in Night City this job could be done and she’d never have to board another train again or feel another stupid sudden bump; she could feel the blades in her arms itching to pop out and defend her from the danger that was public transit. Eventually the intercom of the cart crackled to life as it had during their departure “Now arriving in Night City, enjoy your visit.”

As if on cue the black sterile view of stone outside the windows flew away, replaced by bright lights and a sprawling city. From where she was sitting, she only got a quick glimpse; there were cars hovering around like flies, Buildings stood tall and others would jut out in random directions, there were smaller collections here and there but the city itself was impossible to miss as was its layout. The main city seemed to be made of multiple cities that had been stacked one after another like pancakes. Before she could absorb anymore information the familiar rock walls returned. There was one more sharp stop as the train reached the station and the doors hissed open. Everyone began loading off robotically, before leaving the woman made sure to grab the plastic black envelope, she had brought with her. Following some maps heavily covered in graffiti she found her way to an information station and placed her envelope down and looked up at the person behind the window. It was a man, or at least it seemed like it, only his mouth was visible. The rest of his head was encased in a large matte black helmet. On the front was a small display and the top of the helmet was covered in wires of various colors, some were solid black, others transparent with little blips of light feeding into and out of the helmet “May I help you” he chirped up.

“Yes, yes sorry, I’d like to enter the city please.”

“Well the exit is right that way.”

“Uhm, okay, is there anything else I need to do?”

“Nope, just use your legs is all”

The woman paused for a moment, nodding her head and licking the front of her teeth with her tongue, mouth still closed; she had to stop that, _he_ said it was a bad giveaway. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and pushed the envelope closer to the man “Well I also have this; I was told to give it to a someone at the station when I arrive.”

The man took the envelope and hovered his hand over it. There was a small click as his skin began to split robotically and his palm cracked open revealing a small blue light that scanned up and down the envelope. It then closed just as quickly, and the man’s helmet began to produce a strip of paper. Once it finished printing, he ripped it from his head, folded it, and handed it to the woman “Thank you V.”

V gave a nod in acknowledgment and put the folded slip in one of the pockets on her black jacket. Before she could ask anything else the screen on the man’s helmet flashed a message in all red “Enjoy your visit” V smiled assuming the man wanted her gone or their interaction was meant to be over. She started walking towards the exit only turning back to see the man putting her envelope into a cabinet, that was that. Once out of the station V found herself met with the same bright sun and busy view as before, only now she was surrounded by it. The cars still flew by overhead and the city still looked as if it would fall in on itself. Hundreds of people walked by her, all of them producing noise; she took a moment and lowered the volume on her ears. Now with the hustle and bustle at a manageable level V fished for the slip of paper and walked over to a nearby bench, the only one she could find was near a little noodle place. The slip only had an address on it, one V didn’t recognize of course “So what are we having?”

V looked up to see a very large man in a grease stationed apron. He gave a large smile showing off rows of teeth, some gold, some silver, very few still white “Oh I’m not ordering anything, I just needed a place to sit.”

The man gave his large beard and scratch and shrugged his shoulders “Then I’m gonna have to ask you to leave, your taking up potential customer space.” V looked around at the other empty seats, she fought the urge to say anything and instead thought of a compromise “How about I pay you for some information?”

The mans eyes narrowed “I don’t want any trouble lady,” he growled as politely as he could “get lost.”

“No nothing like that, I just want to know where this address is” V said sliding forward the slip along with a 10-credit chip and her most innocent smile. The man looked at the slip for a second then grunted “You’re gonna want to head for the big black building on the second city level, it says Ventrum on the front, can’t miss it.”

“Thank you so much.” The man quickly turned back to the interior of his shop having taken the chip. V quickly left with her information unable to hear the man grumble “Fucking tourists”. Once she arrived at the building, she was sure the man had been mistaken. The building in front of her was surrounded by well dressed people and guards in suits wearing glasses. It did say “Ventrum” in large gold letters, and the building was an impossibly black color but why would V need to go here? She heard _his _voice creeping up her spine “Don’t question my instructions.”

V clenched her hands into fists, took a breath and relaxed, letting the memory slide back down. She crossed the street and went right up to the front door, maybe if she pretended to belong nobody would notice. Not even giving the guards a second thought, she stood as straight as she could, pushed her head back a bit more than usual, and did her best “better than you” impression. It seemed to be working; none of the fancier people turned towards her and the guards continued to stand like statues. It wasn’t until she reached for the door into the building that she was stopped with a sudden “Hold it” V turned to one of the guards, a woman about her height but much _much_ more muscular. The woman approached and produced a small black pen from her pocket. She tapped a button on it and held it to V’s face, scanning her from head to toe. The pen gave a happy chirp and the woman’s stone face turned to a smile “We’ve been expecting you ma’am.”

The woman then opened the door for V and motioned for her to enter. V quickly snapped back to reality, giving the woman a smile and stepping into the cool building. The inside was just as luxuries as the outside; red carpet, high ceiling with multiple intricate gold chandeliers, more well-dressed people, and several tables with people behind them. V was so amazed by the sight that she didn’t noticed the guard had followed her inside “This way ma’am.”

V leapt a little as the guard overtook her but quickly composed herself and listened, once she was through with all this, she needed a nap, and one of her pills. The woman led them both up to one of the tables “This is one of our special guests” she said very flatly, like this was part of her daily routine. The man behind the desk nodded and he turned towards his computer. It buzzed to life without him lifting a finger and his eyes began to glow faintly. After a few seconds the man nodded again and pointed towards the end of the hall where a few elevator doors were. V thanked the man with a smile and started to walk towards one of the elevators, with the guard still behind her. Once at the elevator the guard hit a few buttons and the doors closed. The only sound was the subtle whirr of the box lifting itself. V absently tapped her hands against the sides of her thighs and looked around the elevator’s interior, once or twice she looked over the guard who offered a glance and very small professional smile, V smiled back awkwardly. Eventually the doors opened to a large lavish room. V stepped out and once again found herself awestruck. The wall opposite the elevator was a window looking out on the city. The terrace had a pool with a clear floor, the room itself had a small kitchen, tons of couches and chairs and a fireplace. Everything had the consisted color scheme of black gold and red, but V didn’t mind, it was more than she had ever had. The guard cleared her throat behind V who turned to see her outstretched hand holding a black briefcase “Everything you need for tonight is in here.”

V took the case and the woman immediately began to make for the elevator “Wait tonight?”

The woman turned and nodded “Yes, as I said it’s all inside the case” she then stepped into the open elevator; she offered another smile, this time more genuine “Enjoy your visit.”


	2. The Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V prepares for her job with the equipment in her suitcase and the modifications in her body. Everything should go off without a hitch...

Several hours had passed since V left the dirty rocky train, she had changed into darker attire; black jeans, a black long sleeve shirt and a short sleeve leather jacket; it was the best she could do to blend into the shadow. As the sun set on Night City it became darker than V could imagine but it was also just as bright as when the afternoon sun was beating down. The sun’s absence just allowed all the neon signs and headlights of the cars to light up the city. In the distance multicolored floodlights waved back and forth into the sky. V looked over everything in her case one more time; there had been another black envelope, a small pistol and some clips, and a bottle of blue pills. The pills had come with a note, no doubt from _him_, V had immediate popped two of the pills when she found the bottle, but she’d left the note. She checked the time on her watch again and checked the documents from the envelope. Her target was a small warehouse where some shady people would be meeting, there would be armed guards and drones and they’d all be in between her and her target, a woman. V checked the time again, she had plenty of time, she knew exactly where to go, they had provided her with all of that; even though she was more than prepared she still felt nervous. After a moment she noticed she had been shaking her leg up and down, she physically placed her hand on her knee and felt the nerves rushing through her leg, and her hand, and under her arm. In a flash V scooped up two more of the blue pills and swallowed them right away. She took another look at her watch again and then at the note, she would read it after the job was done.

Finding the place was as simple as V had suspected, all she needed to do was follow the neon lights and sounds until they faded away. The further away all the noise got, the closer she felt to the location and within an hour she was crouched behind an old fence looking at the same building from the pictures. Unlike the pictures there were men on roofs and catwalks waling around with guns and helmets and armor. There were six or seven drones with bright lights hovering around, no sign of who was controlling them though. V took note of a path off to her right, the drones didn’t fly there and there were only a few men, three or four. V took another minute or two to look at the patrol routes, how everything moved, then she lifted her right arm and felt it begin to fidget and move on its own. The black tattoo like seams of her skin clicked away and a large thin blade popped out tearing through her shirt. With a slow quick movement, she cut a hole in the fence and began moving towards her path. The top of the structure was made of stone and sheet metal, every step risked V making noise but for the most part the whirr of drones and carefully placed steps kept the noise to a minimum. The first solider was easy; he was walking causally, scratching and adjusting his gear, clueless to the woman’s presence. In one swift move V sliced the back of his head then stood to her full height and drove her blade right through his back. There was a small squeak and some gurgling, but the man fell easily. V continued to move towards the main part of the building, leaving behind the shifty roof for a solid metal catwalk. From where she was there were two guards between her and the door. She eyed the bit of overhanging sheet metal above them and the corner near their position, it was dark, and she could lure one there. Before V could decide there was a loud clatter from inside the building. V watched as both guards jumped into action, kicking open the door and moving in with their guns raised. V moved to the corner she was eyeing earlier and by the time she made it there were gunshots. V could recognize the loud repeated fire of the soldier’s weapons, the fire of a slower louder weapon, and an unfamiliar sound; it resembled the sound of a pistol but with more base.

V moved up to the still ajar door and looked inside. She could see five soldiers moving towards one position, behind them was a large black car where two more soldiers were escorting someone, V recognized the person as her target “Shit” she whispered. Once again, before she could move, gunshots rung out. V looked over to where the men had been converging before, there were puffs of smoke and raining debris. V moved through the door as carefully as possible, but the hinges creaked too much. The five soldiers all swiveled towards the door at once and opened fire, the railing of the stairs caught most of the bullets, V lifted his arms and tensed for the pain “Never stop moving” a voice rang out in her head, still crouching, arms still raised V backed away from the railing and out of the door. She didn’t have time to check herself for damage as the car revved its engine and went screaming out of the buildings wall. IT kicked up dirt and threw bits of metal all over; V took two deep breaths and broke into a sprint. The target was getting away, she couldn’t get away. V jumped a gap between the catwalk and the sheet metal roof, her landing caused it to shake but it held. V picked up speed and kept her eyes glued to the car as it tore out of the area and took a sharp left. V jumped again, off the roof and onto the dirt street where the car had been seconds ago, she pushed herself out of the landing position she had taken and began to sprint after the red lights of the car’s backside. Trying to stay hidden she moved under the shadows of buildings she passed and found a path onto the rooftops of the short stone structures. The car took a few more turns, each one allowing V to get closer. Eventually she and the car were next to each other, she prepared to take a large leap onto the hood of the black car but then there was another interruption. A second car rammed into her target sending it flying right towards V, she jumped out of the way as best she could, but the large car crashed through the stone building and clipped V. Both she and the car tumbled down a hill with rubble and the other car following them. When V finally hit the ground, she could hear the car slam down behind her.

Slowly V rose to her feet, she could feel dirt on her hands and face, and she could hear the rolling sound of a thunderstorm moving in. The car was on its top, wheels spinning slightly but also heavily dented from the crash. V moved towards the car only to take two startled steps back when another figure in shadow appeared from behind the car. Whoever they were they didn’t notice V, or care. There was something in their hand, a gun, like the one she had gotten in her case. Another boom of thunder rolled through as the figure knelt down near a window and tore it away from the car. It then reached in and pulled out one body, then another, this one still moving and crying. Very casually, the figure stood up and began riffling with the first body, a guard. The figure pulled a small object that seemed to catch the moonlight, a lighter. The figure flipped open the lighter and revealed a small orange flame, it was a man; shaved head, faintly glowing eyes, scars and techno lines across his face like the ones on V’s arms. There was a dry smile on his face as he looked at the flame in his hands. Just as quickly as he became enamored with the lighter, he returned his attention to the second person he had pulled from the car, tossing the lighter back into the wrecked vehicle. Now V dropped back into a crouch and slowly neared the two of them. The man began to speak slowly “Damn, look at this mess huh?”

The second figure began to groan and tried to move away as the man moved closer “None of this had to happen, you know that don’t you?”

The figure continued to try and crawl away, now crying for help in a pained voice, it was a women’s voice. V’s eyes widened, this was her target; and this mysterious man was now threatening her, the fire began to spread across the upturned cars interior.

“Don’t cry for help, anyone who hears you won’t give a shit” With a casual movement of his foot the man kicked over the woman, so she rolled onto her back with a pained groan. The man began to laugh “I’m sorry, this is just so pathetic; who are you acting for?”

The woman continued to groan and cry for help. V had begun to move again; she had slowly slid her blade back out of her arm; almost absent mindedly she was nearing the man ready to pounce. The man suddenly reached down and grabbed the woman by the neck and pressed the gun to her head “Cut the act and tell me what I want to know” he growled. The shift gave V a small startle and she could feel her nerves again. Trying to push past them she kept going towards the two “Where the fuck is the meeting taking place?”

“Why do you think I’d know, why do you think I’d tell you?”

“Because right now I’m the one who gets to decide what happens to you.”

The woman began to cry, at first that’s what V thought was happening at least, then she noticed the cries turn into laughter. It was low and almost evil “I’m not going to tell you a god damn thing, all you’ve done tonight is paint a bigger target on your back.”

The women’s laughs began to grow in volume as the thunder and rain finally began to arrive directly over the scene of the crash. As the women’s laugh reached a below the man tightened his grip causing her to gasp, a smile returned to his face “If that’s what it takes.”

Then the man’s eyes widened, and his head shot up to V, she was frozen as their eyes locked. His still glowing faintly and her only illuminated by the dulling flicker of the car fire. As another wave of thunder rolled in the man took his chance; squeezed the woman’s neck until there was a sickening crunch and a crumble like tires over gravel and then he bolted. In a daze V followed him, running right past her target and away from the crash. Both of them ran back down the labyrinth of narrow alleys in between the old stone buildings, at multiple points V lost eyesight with the man but could hear the splat of his boots against the now muddy earth. Eventually she found him starring at an impassable wall, hands running through his short hair. He turned to see her and gave a toothy grin “Hey, shit luck right” he asked pointing to the wall. He then turned back to it and placed his hands on his sides, he was moving sporadically and making V nervous. In a quick motion his stance changed, and he turned back to V, gun drawn. Two shots went off before she could close the distance and hit him with both open palms sending him into the wall. Thunder rolled over again as he hit the slab and fell into the mud. V quickly moved in to pick him up by his neck only for him to imitate the grab and throw her against the wall. V struggled against the man remembering what had happened to the last woman in his arms, it was no use though. The man was clearly stronger than he appeared and didn’t flinch. Thinking on instinct V stopped trying to move him and ejected both blades from her hands, the sight made the man’s eyes widen and V felt his grip falter slightly. V kicked him in the stomach making him break his grip completely. She then began furiously swinging her arms at him. He dodged a few of the attacks and was forced to block others; eventually V found an opening and moved to plunge one of her arms directly into the mans face, he caught it. Inches from his face the man grabbed the blade with his bare hands, he then began to twist the arm blade in either direction until V grimaced and pulled away creating a slick slicing sound. The man moved forward with his arm out and V turned on her heel kicking him onto his back. He fell with a wet flop and a groan, V stepped forward again ready to finish him off, then he pulled back out his gun “Hey hey, let’s calm down huh?”

“Calm down- you want to talk now?”

“Yeah I think now would be the best time to do that actually.”

V took another step forward in defiance “What makes you say that?”

The man clicked the barrel on the gun in response “Because I can shoot faster then you can stab, and we’re both tired and wet and have questions.”

V shook her head “I don’t have any questions for you.”

“Of course you do; you want to know who I am, why I killed that woman, how I can do what I can do.” V paused for a moment. Through the rain and thunder she felt herself calm down, she even felt her blades retract slightly, the man was right. She had no idea who he was or how he had such impressive skills and modifications or why he was after her target, and she _did _want to know why. She saw the man smile and begin to lower his gun “I got you, didn’t I?”

“How did you know; how’d you know what to say?”

“Because I was once right where you are now kid” she stared at the man on the ground with bewilderment “My name’s Gate, but I used to be a V.”


	3. Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elsewhere in Night city, a woman is on her way to a meeting when she hears word of the events in the old district of the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to post on Saturday, work, but here's the chapter and another one. I've been having a ton of fun writing this and it's been flowing out of me. If all goes well I'll update more frequently, enjoy!

There was another bump causing Margery’s drink to shake in her hand. She rolled her eyes and took another sip of it; she returned to the tablet in her lap. She was sliding through the news, nothing much had happened today; a murder here, a body discovered there. She looked up from the tablet, bored. Her view was no better; mostly black leather with tinted window, the small screen that separated her view of the front seat was up and it displayed a local news station on mute. She returned to her drink taking another sip and then back to the tablet, there was a new story; apparently a heavily armored car had crashed in the old part of Night city. The picture displayed an upturned SUV with what looked like fire damage, Margery’s eye widened once she recognized the vehicle. Her eyes shot up to the screen now running the same story, she focused on the screen and commanded it to unmute. Immediately the anchorwoman’s voice picked up mid-sentence “The SUV was found abandoned and on fire, no idea of what happened yet as the crash seemed to happen during a rainstorm.”

Margery willed the screen to mute again and tapped a button on the arm of her seat “How much longer till we reach our destination?”

“Three minutes ma’am” said the driver over the static of the intercom. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and thought for a moment; her meeting couldn’t wait; she couldn’t go there personally even if it was _him_. She tapped her tablet and brought up a list of contacts each with a silhouette image and a three-digit number. She scrolled for a while and then tapped on of the contacts. There was a short moment of silence then a low voice filled her left ear “How can I help you Ms. Margery?”

“I need you and a team to go to the scene of the crash in the old district, it’s one of ours.”

“Yes ma’am, how should we deal with the police?”

“They know protocol when we arrive.”

“And what about the press, ma’am?”

“Leave that to the men you bring, your job is to find anything we can use to figure this out and then destroy it.”

“Yes ma’am” there was a short pause as Margery returned her attention to the screen, they had already moved on to another story “Will there be anything else ma’am?”

“Stay at the scene once you’re complete, I’ll come after I’m finished.”

Margery hung up before the man could answer. There was another jolt, this one sharper, she had arrived. Margery collected her tablet and her drink as the door slid open with a hiss. Margery stepped out of the sleek car onto the windy landing pad. There were two soldiers clad head to toe in black armor “Welcome ma’am, he’s waiting for you.”

“He hasn’t said anything has he?”

“No ma’am; we did everything you said, every step” Margery gave a smirk “He’s a fighter, we already knew that.”

**. . .**

Margery stepped into a white sterile room. It was cold and bright and almost alien. There were two more soldiers standing at attention on either side of what looked like an operating table. Next to the table was another long metal table with a few items on it. Now in a more well-lit environment all her features were visible. Margery was an older woman, early 40s maybe, her red hair seemed to stand up on its own. She dressed head to toe in black; a black jacket with a jagged seam, black pants and black boots with prominent heels, even her hands were covered in a slightly reflective leather. Margery stood a few steps from the doorway and felt the smirk return to her face. The door behind her slid closed and she began moving towards the table, the two guards did not follow. As Margery stepped closer her eyes wandered to the long table; she slid her hands across the edge and looked at the items on it. There were a few random bits of metal, some resembling fingers. As she moved her hand lightly down the table the pieces got larger, there were larger slabs of metal, some with what looked like pieces of human skin; at the very end of the table there was an entire arm with metal and wiring at the end, next to that was what looked like a male chest, the skin was stretched over a piece of metal shaped to match the body part. Margery, now with a full-on smile on her face turned to the operating table “I take it your enjoying this.”

On the table there seemed to be another mess of parts, wires and metal and bits of human like robotic parts; all of these were connected however and as Margery’s gaze went up the table it ended at the disembodied head of a man who was breathing sharply and loudly. His eyes were closed tightly and the veins on his neck were bulging turning the skin red. Margery gave his hair and gentle pat, it was black and shiny, slicked back and shaved on the sides, the man sported a five o’ clock shadow. She gave his hair a few more strokes then grabbed under his chin sharply “I’m speaking to you” she growled.

“I’m not talking, I don’t care what the fuck you do to me.” The man spoke in pained breaths, his eyes watered, and he kept them shut tight causing tears to roll down slowly.

“I can see that, if we pull anymore off of you, I’m sure we could decorate every wall in this room.”

Margery gave the mans face two sharp slaps and began to pace around the table. “Jason do you remember what you said to me when we first met?”

The man didn’t speak causing Margery to quickly turn on her heels, now at the top of the table she put a hand on either side of his head and carefully whispered “ Jason if you leave another one of my questions unanswered I’ll smash your disembodied head against the wall like a vase.”

“I said I wanted to hold my wife and kid!”

Margery smiled again and let go of Jason’s head “Yes I remember now; you were in a tragic accident, a gang attack that took _both_ of your arms” she continued to pace “You cried and drank and started ignoring the calls from your family.” 

The tears on the sides of Jason’s face seemed to increase once Margery began talking about his family, she didn’t let up “We found you and for a very small favor we gave your arms back.”

“Then you got more of me blown to hell!”

Margery quickly turned on her heels again and reached for Jason. This time instead of his head she went for the open glass casing where his insides sat and squeezed. Jason wailed in pain and the white lights that made up the room’s wall turned a deep red. Margery leaned in and whispered again “I don’t like it when my toys shout at me.”

Margery released her grip on Jason’s guts slowly and the lights returned to normal. Jason took several large breaths, his eyes wide open and looking down at what was left of him. He watched as the huge breaths caused his exposed lungs to raise and lower, sloshing slightly. The sight made his breathing heavier and faster. Margery took the last of her drink and poured it over her hand attempting to get the goo off. Her mind wandered as the drink poured out into a small trash can, the crime scene was still an issue, it was time for her to hurry things along “Jason I don’t have time to play with you, just tell me what I want to know.”

Jason returned to his previous position, this time his eyes were wide open revealing two bright green bloodshot eyes; seemingly free of augmentation. Margery stepped towards him and looked directly into his face “I always loved your eyes” she began stroking his hair again and Jason couldn’t help but tear up “I know you love when I do this Jason, I remember when I visited you during recovery; every time I did this your EKG would hop.”

“Stop” Jason whined

“It was adorable, I remember telling your wife and daughter how it worked; her little eyes lit up so bright.”

“It wasn’t him god damn it!”

Margery stopped abruptly “What?”

“The thing at the tram wasn’t him, it was just some stupid thugs, I swear.” Margery watched the tears rolling down Jason’s face and the intense eye contact he was making; it was his tell, one of them anyway. Jason was a lot of things, including a liar, but you could always tell when he finally let down the shroud and told you something true “Alright Jason, I believe you.”

Margery stepped away from Jason and whispered in one of the guard’s ears. She then turned towards him “You will be returned to the shop where we found you after you’re put back together. You’ll be given a substantial amount of pay for your compensation and for any…unseen damages” Jason looked at the woman best he could over the puzzle pieces of his body on the table; she was smiling, a cold but genuine smile “Thankyou again Jason, tell your family I said hello.”

Margery left the room, hopefully next time she wouldn’t have to try so hard to get so little. She’d have Jason monitored as per the regular, but she had doubts he’d prove useful any time soon. If the tram shootout hadn’t involved _him_ it only meant the car crash in the old district was more likely to have been. Margery climbed back into the sleep flying car and pressed a few buttons on her tablet. A cooled glass slid out of a compartment and her car hovered off the landing pad towards the old district.


	4. R and R

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V and her new friend make their way out of the old district back to a safe place to rest, relax, and hide.

V looked down at the dingy floor of the train car, she could have sworn it was the same one that had brought her to Night city this morning; there were the same brand of wrappers and cans rolling around, the car made the same jolts and sounds as it moved and the same smell hovered in the air. Every once in a while, she’d dart her eyes over to the _other_ V. They were sitting on two of the car’s seats, her with her hands clamped together, him leaning back looking at the ceiling; he looked so relaxed, at home. Both of them sported a few scuffs and marks from their little fight and neither had said a word after boarding the train, they had been on the train for at least ten minutes now. V had no idea where they were going, she hadn’t thought to ask, or she didn’t want to. The only thing on her mind was what the man had done back at the crash and what he had said before she had a chance to… V wasn’t sure. Now that the moment had passed, and the district was further away V had calmed down enough to actually process everything that had happened. She had messed up her job, she was sloppy and almost got killed, and now she was “Are we… are we on the run now or something?”

The man’s eyes adjusted to a puzzled expression at her question, but he continued to look at the ceiling of the train “I dunno, I guess so” V didn’t like this answer, she clasped her hands tighter “Then again everyone is on the run here.”

Before V could ask what, she meant the bus came to a stop and the doors slid open. The man rose to his feet with a groan and started walking. Instinctively V followed, not wanting to be left behind. As she stepped out of the train, she noticed how similar the station was to the other she had arrived at; it was probably coincidence but still “Hey party popper, you coming or what?” V turned to see the man, hands on his sides waiting by a desk with a worker. V hurried over and her eyes locked to the worker, just like the one from this morning there was a large helmet with wires, a display screen; the only difference was a more feminine face with black lipstick at the end of the helmet “How may I help you both?”

“Hey, I need to know about any special arrivals from this morning.”

“I’m sorry, information like that is not available to the public.” As the woman said this the man gave a smile and fished in his pocket for a small black card with a single red line on it. The woman took it immediate, plugged it into the side of her head then smiled “Apologies sir.”

She then turned and produced one black envelope from a filing cabinet to her side “This was our only special arrival today.”

The man took the envelope and offered a wide grin “Thankyou sweetheart” he then turned sharply and made for the stations exit. V turned and offered a weak smile to the worker and turned to follow “Lucky us, you’re the only piece in play; that could have taken _a lot_ longer” the man chuckled as he placed the envelope in his jacket. V watched the movement and immediately grabbed his arm pulling the envelope back out, they both stopped, him halfway up the first few steps, her at the bottom “What do you think you’re doing?”

“A favor, let go of me.”

“If this envelope is what I _think _it is then you shouldn’t have it.”

“I don’t give a shit what you _think_” the man pulled away from V with the same strength as back in the alley, it still surprised her “Like I said, we’re on the run now, people on the run don’t need their information sitting in a drawer somewhere.”

With this he turned and continued up the steps, stomping slightly. V followed close behind “Fine, but that’s still my property, I can’t carry it at least?!”

The man turned again to meet V’s gaze, they stopped only a few inches from one another and V was forced to look into his eyes again, there was none of the strange joy that she had seen when she had him dead to rights, he seemed deadly serious “What the hell do you think is in this folder?!”

“Personal information, my name, my special skills” before V could continue the joy returned to his eyes and the man laughed. It only grew louder and ruder as he turned away from her and continued up the steps holding his side “Kid the only thing in here is the best way to kill you.” V stopped stunned, she felt her eyes widen at this, it sounded absurd “That’s ridiculous, why would I be told to carry a file about how to kill myself.”

“Not how to kill yourself, how to kill you.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The person doing it, for starters.”

This last comment left V silent. She continued to keep pace with the man as they moved through a more populated strip of markets and shops, but she didn’t say a word. Everything he was saying, everything he _had_ said, was crazy. The idea that she wasn’t V, that there were multiple Vs, a file specifically about how someone should kill her, it seemed like a silly story, or a trick, or a test. As this last thought entered her head V’s eyes lit up a bit; she quickly fixed her posture and looked straight ahead. Off to her side the man took notice and simply rolled his eyes. They made a few sharp turns in and out of alleys and sections between shops. Eventually the man kicked a fire escape down and began scaling the ladder, V continued to follow. At the top the man tapped a small old tile on the side of the wall and a metal panel slid away revealing a window, he opened it and slid inside. V stepped in after gingerly and looked around; the room was large but completely dark, the man turned to her, the faint glow of his eyes more prominent “Guess they didn’t want to make you too stealthy huh?”

V didn’t answer him she just looked into the glow of his eyes, puzzled. The man gave a short whistle and the lights clicked on; they were in an apartment, not terribly dirty or dingy but far from the living areas V had seen in Night city so far. The metal window behind her closed itself as the man stepped into what looked like his kitchen. He put V’s file on a table and went for the fridge pulling out a tall green plastic cylinder then worked his way back to the center of a room where a nice black couch was waiting for him to flop onto. V stood with her hands at her sides taking in the room, it was well lit with some bulbs on the ceiling and others on the wall, the paint was a strange deep yellow and was peeling in places. A lot of the appliances and electronics looked new, out of the box new, it gave the whole room a very mismatched feel “You can have a seat you know” V snapped back to reality and looked at the man “Right, thanks.”

She took a seat on a recliner; it matched the nice couch. The man took a few more swigs from his bottle and then offered it to her “Have some.”

V looked at the bottle for a moment trying to figure out what it was “It’s water, calm down.”

V gave a faint laugh and took the bottle; the man wiped his entire face with his hand “If I wanted to kill you why would I bring you back to my place?”

V took the comment as him grumbling to himself and enjoyed her drink; it was surprisingly good, for water. After a few more sips she handed it back only for the man to deny it. She placed it on the floor where she could reach for it later. There were a few more moments of silence before V spoke up “So, Gate, what exactly is going to happen now?”

“You tell me”

“What?”  
“You’re a new arrival in Night city, you have a job to do, job gets done, sorta” at this V scratched the back of her neck awkwardly “What do you do when it’s all done?”

V thought for a moment then recalled the instructions she’d been given “I wait for instructions.”

Gate laughed at her answer “Then I guess we’re waiting for instructions.” He then assumed the same position as he did on the train ride. V looked around a bit more, trying to relax but she could feel something in the back of her head telling her to run or fight or do more than nothing right now. So much had happened tonight, and she had so many question and now this stranger was just relaxing in his home after executing someone she just wanted to know “What the fuck is going on?”

Gate opened one eye and looked in her direction, he didn’t answer as if waiting for her “You wanna be more specific?”

“What happened back at the car crash, why were you there, who were those people” V got up and began to pace “Why’d you tell me what you told me, why’d you collect my file, why are we just sitting in this weird apartment?!”

Gate got up and went into a small bathroom, the door shut behind him. V scoffed and approached the closed door “And why are you ignoring every question I ask?!”

The door slid open suddenly and again V was almost touching noses with the man “I’m gonna need you to step away from me and take these” Gate shook a small bottle of pills near V’s face. She turned to see the familiar site of the blue pills she used for her nerves, but these were in a different container “What are those?”

“They’re the same ones that they give you at the training facility, only _these_ don’t leave you needing more.”

V took the bottle puzzled. Now the man, Gate, was talking about the facility; there was now way he should have known about that “What do mean not needing more, I use these for my nerves, I need them every once in a while.”

“No, the pills make you need them, it’s a whole cycle of take need, take need.”

“So, if I take these, my nerves will stop?”

“No, but if you take them your brain wont rush to the idea of a pill the next time you feel a little nervous.”  
V examined the bottle even closer now as Gate moved past her back to his seat on the couch ‘It’s not a bad thing to be nervous V, if you didn’t have your nerves you wouldn’t have been able to do any of what you did tonight.”

V took the bottle back to her seat and took one with her water, she expected some strange reaction; either for her head to clear and her mind to open up, or for her body to completely shut down. She must have expressed more then she liked because Gate spoke up again from his spot “Yeah you’re not going to trip or anything, it’s just medicine.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Now please, let me rest a little, you do the same; after that I promise I’ll answer any question you have.”

V quickly shot her head up towards him “Answer one right now, just one.”

Gate gave that same one eye open look from earlier and motioned for her to continue. V paused for a moment, mouth slightly open, there was so much running through her head at once, but she only had one question. She thought for another second and asked, “What are we going to do, when I get my instructions or if something else happens, what are we going to do?”

Gate and V sat for a moment, the longest one yet. Gate dropped any smirk from his face and looked at her intensely “We’re going to find the people who make the Vs and kill them.” Gate then immediately laid back in his couch and fell asleep. V just stared into space for a minute listening to the muffled sounds of the city outside, she felt tired.


	5. Tune Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V and Gate begin making their next move, which involves finding someone to fix them up.

V felt the warmth of the sun on the back of her head. Slowly she stirred from what must have been one of the best nights of sleep she could remember. As her view came into focus, she looked around; she was still in the shabby apartment decorated with nice appliances, Gate wasn’t on the couch, but she could hear sounds coming from the bathroom. Slowly she raised herself from the seat and suddenly felt a jolt of pain down her back, she tried touching the spot and hissed in pain. The door to the bathroom slid open and V’s eyes shot up to Gate, he had abandoned the brown leather jacket and was wearing a plain white t shirt, his arms and hands were heavily bandaged, he gave a small laugh “Alright, your turn to get patched up” he stepped out of the open doorway and into the kitchen. V stared for a minute then decided to head into the bathroom, she hadn’t thought about their fight in the alley, at least not about the damage they had done to one another. V’s blades had cut up Gate’s arms and hands, she was surprised he didn’t make a comment earlier. As V stepped into the bathroom, she made sure the door closed and locked. Slowly she slid off her jacket and long sleeve shirt, then the simple black bra. V turned in the mirror to see a large black bruise on her back, she touched it slightly only to feel a deep sting “Fuck” Gate had thrown her with most of his strength, running back through the details V checked her neck too, not nearly as bad as her back but it sported a few purple spots where Gate’s finger tips and gripped. There was a knock from the other side of the door “Hey, hurry up and eat something, we gotta head out!”

“Uh, okay, I’ll be out in a second.” She gingerly slid back into her cloths, taking care not to agitate her injuries. When she exited the bathroom there was a small mug of coffee waiting for her, right on top of her file. V stepped up immediately and slid the file out, it still looked sealed “I was wondering which one you’d go for first” Gate was resting against one of the counters in the kitchen looking at V, the file gripped her hands “Is this a test or something?”

“No, you can look at it if you want, I was just curious if you’d care.”

“You said this thing has information on how to kill me, of course of interested.”

Gate shrugged his shoulders and sipped his coffee. V rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the black envelope, she turned it over and broke the seal then hesitated. V wasn’t sure what would be in these files, or if she wanted to find out; from the kitchen, Gate had focused back in on V and her hands shaking to take the next step “Look you don’t have to do it.”

“No, no it’s fine, I want to know” V then forced herself to pull the file out of, it was just a single piece of paper with a small picture of her face and a traced picture of her body. It almost looked like a blueprint, detailing different minor and major bits of equipment V had; obviously there were her blades, there were also a few bits of metal under the skin for durability, a slot for chips and cards, a cable in one of her arms for plugging in to computers, and something traced in red “What’s that?”

Gate pushed himself off the counter and placed his coffee down. V placed the paper down and spun it for Gate to view, he looked over the entire paper before focusing in on the part V was pointing to “Looks like a kill switch.”

“Is that a _literal_ name?”

“Mostly, it’s a small machine that can be programmed to do just about anything; stop a heart, explode, disable limb control.”

V looked blankly at the little red item apparently located in her hip near where her kidneys would be. Gate however, looked over the rest of the file questioning most of what he saw “A lot of this is pretty standard but it feels kind of mismatched.”

“What do you mean” V asked, only half listening.

“Mantis blades, chip ports, durability upgrades; usually the Vs are built with one specialty in mind but you’re like a jigsaw puzzle.”

V nodded in response “He always said I was going to be special, guess this is what he meant.”

“He?”

“My uhm… I’m not sure what he was, but he met with me, trained me, he was like a boss or a mentor.”

Gate didn’t respond immediately, V looked up to see a grim look on his face “You’re talking about your handler.”

“Why do you call them that?”

“That’s what they are, people that get assigned to Vs; they talk to them, brainwash them, make them grow attached, then they get to dump them in the city.”

“Well what happens to handlers who lose their Vs, like you and me?”

“Usually nothing, sometimes, if the V is important, teams get sent out, maybe the handler even comes to the city personally.”

V felt her stomach drop “Do you, uhm, do you think anyone is looking for me right now?”

Gate gave focused on V; she wasn’t making eye contact; she had her attention locked on the schematic and she was holding the spot on her stomach where the little machine was. Her face seemed twisted, like she wanted to wretch. Gate gave a sigh “Probably not, it hasn’t been a long time” he finished his mug and placed it down moving quickly out of the kitchen “Come on.”

V looked up with a start “Wait, where are we going?”

“We gotta go for a checkup.”  


**. . . **

V found herself again following Gate through unfamiliar streets and alleys on the way to a mysterious location. By this point it was clear, this wasn’t a game or a test, Gate was real, this was all real; V was on the run from _him_ and whoever else he was involved with. V wondered why she didn’t feel scared or wrong, she was abandoning everything knew. She thought it might be the medicine Gate had given her, she didn’t feel less nervous, but she didn’t feel like jumping to quiet it like a bug. After a while V found herself at a plaza square, like the one she had first arrived in, there were shops and people and lots of noise, even that didn’t bother V as much anymore, it was almost comforting. Gate pointed out a sign, a small neon sign in the shape of a cross “So you meant a literal checkup” V shrugged a little.

“Yeah, Doc knows his stuff, he can take care of us; plus, he _loves_ me”

V followed staring at the shop; it looked like any of the other shops she’d seen in the city, a few signs to denote its location and purpose with the building itself being plain gray concrete. Both Vs stepped through an automatic door into a room littered with parts and bits of turquoise light. There was music playing and sounds of whirring and buzzing “Who’s out there” shouted someone from a separate room.

“Doc, it’s Gate!”

A man stepped out from behind a room; he was dressed nicely a mostly white reflective jacket resembling scrubs, blue gloves, black ripped jeans with a chain. The man sported a shot hair cut with a sharp point at the front, shaved on the sides with lines resembling parts of a motherboard, and some rectangular framed glasses. As the doctor made eye contact with Gate his mouth fell into a pout “Get out of my shop” he said flatly. His accent was new, V hadn’t heard anything like that before in the city but it resembled some of the “British tv” she had seen before, less proper and fancy though “Come on Doc don’t be like that, I need a favor.”

“Last time you needed a favor I got roughed up by animals, is this that kind of favor?”

“Course not” Gate paused for a second and his smile twisted a bit and he shrugged slightly “It does involve the handlers though.”

Doc groaned and pushed his palms to his face “For fuck sake Gate!”

“Hold on, I didn’t do anything this time, it was her” he said motioning towards V with both hands.

“Me, I didn’t run that SUV off the road!”

Doc had moved over to a desk and sat on top of it. His eyes narrowed at V “That mess in the old district was you too?”

“You know about that?”

Doc nodded in response to V “It’s all over the news.”

V felt her stomach sink and her knees wobble. Doc jumped up and motioned for her to sit on the desk now “Woah hey, easy love, take a seat.”

V could feel her breathing grow shaky, Doc tried to kneel down and rub the side of her arm in comfort but V couldn’t focus “Gate what the hell did you do to her?”

“So, she’s got the shakes, it happens to the newbies.” 

Doc moved away from V now and back to Gate, V could only listen to their conversation as she tried to ride out her wave of panic “You shouldn’t have gotten her involved in this, she’s scared.”

“She’s scared, you should have seen what happened to the people she supposed to take care of; the girl’s got mantis blades, tons of mods from different packages” Doc cut him off “I don’t care about her specs she’s a _person_ Gate, a very scared person!”

As they continued to shout V began tuning them out, when that didn’t work she absently went to turn down the volume on her ears, a gentle hand stopped hers before she could reach for her ear. Gate jumped at the new arrival “Hey, no no no, she doesn’t like being snuck up on.”  
V didn’t flinch though, all she did was turn to see a woman; she was young with white hair, smooth skin and piercing pink eyes that glowed subtly “You shouldn’t do that love, come on, I know some place quiet.”

The woman spoke in a similar manor to the doctor, V hopped off the table and began to follow the girl “Oye, we’re not helping them.”

“That’s fine, I’ll do it myself.” The woman hollered waving to the doctor. He prepared to retort but she and V were gone. There was a moment of silence as Doc rubbed his eyes in annoyance; Gate tapped his foot and nodded “When did she get back?”

In the other room V was escorted into V found a table with old cracked leather and a single strong light illuminating it. The woman moved from behind her “So what’s the damage?”

V fumbled with her words for a moment then remembered “Uhm, mostly my back.”

The woman dug through some cubbies on the wall and gathered bits of equipment “Right, anything else you’d like me to look at?”

V thought for a second, moving closer to the table “I’m not really sure, you might need to ask Gate” the woman pushed past with an armful of things “Alright, then sit on the table belly down and we’ll do what we can on our own” she pressed a button on a screen installed into her arm and the chair adjusted slightly, now it resembled a massage chair. V removed her jacket and laid down “Thanks by the way miss, uhm” the woman giggled in a high pitch “Almost.”

The woman tapped V’s back making her rise to meet the girl’s gaze again “It’s Missy actually, I need you to roll up the back of your shirt alight?”

V nodded and went back to her comfy position in the chair allowing herself to relax as Missy went to work.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I love this story the chapters take a bit of time to do. Should be fine though, this week has been hell cause of classes but that hell ends on Monday so I should stay on track, thanks everyone.


	6. The Next Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margery arrives at the scene in the old district, she meets a new companion of sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to break schedule again, besides today, going to take a week or two to really write ahead. I've also been thinking about other things to write so I may start posting those too, enjoy the shorter chapter(sorry)

Margery arrived at the scene much later then she would have liked. The sun was high in the sky and there were barely any clouds. In the light of midday, the scene looked grizzly. The SUV was still turned on its roof, parts of it had been blackened and contorted by the fire. All over the floor there were bits of metal, fabric from the car’s interior; Margery stepped around each piece eyeing it as if it were a vital clue. A few of the armed men in all black were moving around the scene stopping to talk or push the sides of their helmet to report something or answer a message. Margery finally made it to the spot with the most foot traffic, the body. She didn’t recognize the woman sprawled out on the concrete, they were dressed very similarly but that didn’t surprise Margery, it only confirmed what she already thought “It was one of yours wasn’t it?”

Margery turned to see a tall man stepping towards her, his features obscured by the sun throwing his shadow down on her. Margery rose slowly to reveal his identity. He dressed in an all-black suit, black shirt, and a thin black tie. He had piercing green eyes that were almost glowing, they were glowing; he sported shiny black hair and a thick neat beard. After giving him a once over Margery scoffed slightly “What makes you say that?”

“Well you’re here, that’s a big giveaway” Margery turned away and rolled her eyes. She knelt back down over the body pretending to investigate it further. Behind her the man stepped around and continued to speak “Nobody ever sees you out of the offices, unless you’ve messed something up.”

“And why are you out here exactly, just to make my job harder?”  
“Of course not, I’m here because this mess was one of mine” At this Margery ceased her fake analysis and looked up slightly to see the man’s dress shoes in front of her. He knelt down to meet her face to face “My best guess is that your asset and my asset caused this and then ran off together.”

“Sounds romantic” Margery gagged. The man gave a shrug “Possibly, most likely they just ran off after realizing they were alike.”

The man rose again and pulled on his jacket “There’s nothing useful here, we should get back to the offices, put out some feelers, and wait for a hit” He offered his hand to her without making eye contact. Margery looked at the hand for a second, then another; the man looked down at her with a look of confusion and annoyance, he motioned his outstretched hand and Margery took hold. With one heft she rose to her feet. The man then started walking to his car, very similar to Margery’s but with streaks of red along the sides “How long has yours been on the run” Margery asked as he moved away. “As of now, two days, what about you?”

Margery took a long pause and decided she would ride back with her new partner. With a confident trot she overtook him and made her way to the vehicle “Five years” she said trying to hide the look of shame on her face.


	7. Kill the Switch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V and Gate finish their visit to the "doctors" and begin the next step of their plan to take down the V creators, makeovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe in my time off I've only done this chapter, I can. At least it's long; enjoy guys

V and Missy emerged from the small room after a few hours. Gate and Doc had taken seats on either side of his desk now. V offered them both a smile, Gate gave a nod in place of a hello and Doc returned the smile “How are we feeling?”

“Pretty good, your uhm… Missy is really talented, my back feels like new.”

Missy gave a giggly scoff “Stop, I only ever do the easy work” Doc rose from his chair and spoke with a bit of a groan “Unfortunately she’s right, come with me.”

V followed with Gate and Missy close behind.

She was led into a room similar to Missy’s, this one lacked a transforming and instead had what looked like a plastic box suspended from the ceiling by metallic poles. Doc pushed the box up and motioned for V to step under it. V stepped over sheepishly and Doc lowered the box back down. Doc snapped at Missy who had moved to one of the walls to lay against it; she rolled her eyes and tapped a few buttons on her wrist screen. The box around V’s midsection began to hum and sputter a bit, she looked to Doc who gave a sheepish thumbs up. The machine began to hum more harmoniously and the light in the room dimmed a bit. V looked to Gate whose eyes now shone a bit more prominently; he seemed to be paying attention to anything else, looking at the floor, the dimming lights “Alright we’re in business” Doc said staring at the box. V tried to peek over the box, but Doc let out a sharp shout “Whoa hey, you _don’t_ wanna move around too much” V froze in place “Uhm, is this thing safe?”

Doc shook his back and forth a bit “Yeah as long as you sit still and don’t touch the sides.”

V stood straight as she could while Doc adjusted a few things. From his point of view Doc could see every augment and implant in V’s body, but not the one he was looking for. He tapped the screen a bit causing the box to adjust itself; a little up, a little down, a bit to the left “More to her right” Gate said. Doc followed his instructions and adjusted the box one more time “There’s the little twit” he said tapping the screen.

V instinctively went to try and look at what Doc was pointing at but Gate and Missy both cleared their throats and gave V a quick head shake. V nodded “What did you find?”

“Your boom box.”

V felt a stir in her stomach “So it’s really in there, and it really is…a kill switch?”

Doc turned off the box and raised it above V’s head quickly “Don’t get spooked love, now that we know where it is, we can take care of it.”

V felt her spirits lift then subsequently fall at the thought of having to be operated on. She remembered the few times she had been cut open; to replace or add pieces “Are you sure you can do that; I mean it’s a part of me.”

“Don’t worry, Doc’s done this before, and he hasn’t lost a patient yet.”

“I wouldn’t say that” Doc mumbled back at Gate. V looked at both men as they glared at one another. She then looked to Missy who was also eyeing both of them, she gave an annoyed groan “Could you two please focus.”

Doc broke eye contact first, making Gate smile, then returned his attention to V “Right, the operation should be simple and painless; we’ll put you under, make a small incision” Gate stepped forwards and stopped the doctor “That’s not gonna fly, she’s got drug resistance built in to her, and we can’t afford to open her up.”

“He’s right, the less damage on both of you the better, especially if you’re going back out there to tussle with anyone.” Missy said, moving forward to join the semi-circle that was forming. Doc rubbed his face a bit “Fine, then how do you suggest we deal with this?”

There was a moment of silence before Missy stepped forward and began tapping on her wrist. V noticed some of the skin on her palm slide away, revealing silver shiny metal. She gave her arm another tap and a jolt of electricity appeared briefly over her palm “Lift your shirt please” Missy said with her arm out, the faint sound of whining coming off it. V did as she said lifting a section of her black shirt, right where the kill switch would be. Missy placed her palm gently on V’s skin and focused in on her hand “Alright give me a countdown, start at five.” V nodded closed her eyes and before she could start counting, she felt a sharp jolt strike her side. She yelped slightly and Missy began to laugh “Well, how’d I do” she asked, turning towards Doc. He stepped forward with a small mirror, at least it resembled one. With a few taps the screen came to life, offering a similar view to the x-ray box. He hovered the screen over V’s side for a minute or two then switched it off “It’s deactivated.”

“Really, just like that?” V felt her heart raise, she looked over to Missy who was smirking, looking very proud herself she raised her palm and allowed a bit more electricity to run off of it “Magic hands love.”

V offered a smile; Gate pushed himself off the wall “Well it was nice to drop by and see you all, but we’ve got more to do today.”

V watched Gate quickly leave the room without giving her a chance to follow “What about you” she asked “You’re still pretty banged up.

Gate shrugged his shoulder “I’ll live, important thing is that now you won’t die on me.”

V gave him a perplexed look in the hopes he’d turn around, but he kept on going. He gave a thank you to Missy and Doc before turning to follow Gate “Oye” Doc said as she stepped away. “You keep him out of trouble alright?”

V gave slightly sarcastic smile “Not sure that’s possible.” Doc laugh in responses and nodded.

. . .

V found Gate outside the entrance to Doc’s place slanting against the wall “You took your time saying goodbye.”

“Well it’s nice to stop and thank the people who helped you, plus I don’t know if I’ll see them again.  
“If we do our job right, we will.”

“Why do you say that?”

Gate pushed himself off the wall, just like he had before, and began heading down the street “Because if we do our job right, we’ll come away with a few more bumps and bruises, if we do our job wrong, we’ll be dead.”

V followed, this time making sure to keep pace and stay right by his side “Right, our job being stop everyone making Vs, how are we going to do that exactly?”

Gate was quiet for a second, she wasn’t sure if he was pondering her question or ignoring her “First things first, you need a new wardrobe” He said picking up pace. V immediately tried to match his stride but found herself making two or three quick steps for each long one he did. “Are you serious, what do cloths have to do with this?”

“When you’re trying to blend in with a crowd it helps to look like everyone else in the crowd, don’t you agree?”

V nodded in response, there was a bit of silence and she realized Gate hadn’t seen her respond to him, she groaned a bit “Yeah that makes sense.”

“Alright, so look at me, then look at you.”

V gave a smirk “Alright, I see a man who looked like he got his ass kicked in an ally last night.”

Gate stopped suddenly causing V to almost run into his back, now used to it she stopped and still had time to back a way before he turned around to reveal a very serious expression “And _I_ see a girl dressed like in an assassin from anywhere that isn’t here” V looked directly into the man’s glowing eyes, once again they seemed to resemble someone else’s “What’s your point?”

“You need to blend in if we want this to work, so you’re going to get some new cloths.”

“Fine and what after that?”

“One thing at a time” he said, turning away. V reached out a hand and spun him back around, Gate responded by reaching for the hand. V quickly pulled away and grabbed his in response “Cut the shit, I’m sure those blueprints showed you I have a fully functioning brain so maybe you tell more then just one step at a time.”

Gate looked at her, his hand twitching slightly in her grasp, he didn’t speak so V continued “If we’re going to do this you need to actually communicate with me; whatever this is, it’s going to stop.”

Both of them stared silently at one another as passersby flowed around them like water. Gate gave a genuine smile and slowly peeled V’s hand off his arm with his free hand “Alright V, point taken” He placed both his hands in his jacket pockets and began rocking on his heels “_We_ are going to get you some cloths, then we’re going to head to the room they set you up in when you first arrived, might be some information there. Then we’re going to meet some contacts of mine.”

V nodded after each bit of information as Gate continued “Then from there it all depends on what we find, satisfied” he said raising his hands in his pockets. V nodded “Yeah, thanks.”

Gate nodded “Good, now lets keep going” Satisfied V followed slowly behind Gate as he continued walking “And don’t ever grab me like that again” he said flatly, not turning to V who felt a wave of unease rush through her at the tone of his voice.

The rest of the walk was silent, V didn’t necessarily mind, it gave her time to think. Since they had met Gate had been warmer and more human with her then anyone else, she’d met; at the same time he was a stranger, an emotional and dangerous stranger. She still had so much she wanted to know about him; why he was at that sight in the old district, how he got free, how he knew so much about the Vs. She had to ask him, she was going to, but not now, she felt like that little show of force earlier cost all the good will she had with him. Without realizing it V had turned her attention to the floor and Gates feet, watching for ay change in pace or turn but ultimately more focused on her thoughts, she barely noticed him stop “We’re here” she looked up and was met with a large red neon sign. The store was pretty small, an open front like a clothing store in a mall, from where they were standing, she could see that the store wasn’t the busiest, it didn’t seem like any store in Night city was come to think of it. Gate gestured for V to enter first and start looking around. As soon as they stepped into the store he made for a stack of shirts. V looked around for a bit before making for a wall of jackets. Most of them were leather, black or dark brown, “See anything you like?”

V turned to meet the gaze of a woman dressed like she belonged in the store display window. She was about V’s height, dark skin, a little large “Uh, I’m just looking around.”

As V spoke the woman looked her up and down “You’re new around here aren’t you” V gave a laugh, “Yeah, I didn’t realize it was that obvious.”

“It’s a bit obvious, but we can fix that” She turned and walked over to a rack of shirts “Let me walk you through the Night city starter pack.”

The woman pulled a few shirts off of a pile and held them up. One was plain purple, another was light blue with some strange writing on it, and the last one was a black shirt with what looked like a half melted red demon on the front “I kinda like that one” V said pointing to the third shirt.

“Oh, Samurai fan?”

“No I just like black, it’s… subtle.”

“Well it’s a good choice regardless, and now with the hard part out of the way” the woman moved back to the row of leather jackets grabbing things without even addressing V, after picking up some black jeans and a few bracelets and earrings she handed V everything and directed her into a dressing room “Take your time.”

From across the floor of the shop Gate watched the worker she had sent over help V and send her into the dressing room. The look on her face as she entered with a pile of cloths made him smile. He turned and returned to the thing he was hiding in his jacket. For as much as that woman last night claimed to not know her phone told a different story. There were old texts about the meeting time, the place. From what she said it didn’t look like they had expected V to attack them, or Gate. It was possible she was just a trap or a test for the girl, to prove her training had taken course, but it couldn’t be that simple, nothing they ever did was. Gate had gone through every app and file, the phone wasn’t personal, just a business burner or sorts, so he couldn’t find anything out about the woman herself but what little was here made it seem like she was just a middleman. The contacts were probably the most interesting piece, every person was marked with a in place of a name and no profile picture, one of them stuck out to Gate. He had wrested with calling the number, texting it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. What would he say, or write? As Gate starred at the phone with increasing intensity an alarm began to ring, making no noise but producing a mild vibration. The screen had turned into a black background with a pulsing red dot “Shit” he whispered.

In the dressing room V slipped on her last item, the leather jacket. She took a look into the mirror and got ready to leave then she turned back. She looked at herself from head to toe, she was so use to plain black clothing; the jacket, the accessories, all the colors made her look so normal, she smiled. Before she could turn away from the mirror an arm reached in and grabbed, instinctively she used her free hand to grab the mystery arm back and pulled. Gate came into the changing room with the arm, V immediately unhanded him slightly scared “We have to go, you ready?”

“Uhm yeah, is everything okay?”

“No, that’s why we have to go” Gate turned and left the room. V grabbed anything left and hurried after him. Gate moved quickly, when V caught sight of him again, he was already leaving the store, she quickly gave back the cloths she hadn’t chosen and fished for some money “Oh your friend already paid.”

V gave a weak smile and a wave before running out of the store. She found Gate looking around “So, what’s going on?”

“I think we’re about to be attacked.”

“By who, is it those people from last night?”

“Probably.”

“How’d they find us?”

“Don’t know; this way.”

Gate took a sharp turn around a crowd of people, V turned with him. She wasn’t sure if they were heading back to his place or back to the Doctor’s or to somewhere entirely new but Gate was moving with purpose. They broke through another crowd of people and came into view of a crowded street where cars were parked. One of them stuck out to V, a sleek black car, free of smudges and imperfections. From the way it rumbled slightly she could tell the engine was on and she could almost feel someone inside noticing her and Gate. As she turned to Gate to address him, he did the same, turning with a worried expression “Let’s turn around.”

“It’s like you read my mind” V joked before there was a hail of gunfire that came from where the cars were parked. V and Gate ducked their heads and the crowds of people all around them began to scream and panic. V risked peeking through clenched eyes to see a few men in black armor with small automatic weapons aimed right at them. V bolted immediately, trying to make it away from anyone who could get caught in the crossfire, she didn’t even hear Gate call after her.

Another stream of gunfire rang out, this time Gate saw the soldiers fire into the crowd, not at him, just the crowd. This perplexed him but Gate took the advantage and ducked back into the crowd, now in hysterics. The soldiers began advancing, popping long magazine and replacing them robotic-ally; one of them touch a small button on the side of their helmet “Targets are somewhere in the crowd; watch your trackers and kill anyone in your way, bosses orders.”


	8. Scattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V and Gate rush to avoid the mysterious soldiers in black as they shoot through the crowds of random people in pursuit of Gate,V, or both of them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter this week, I've just finished another story and started one more but I'm going to try to focus in on this for the next few weeks. Enjoy

V pushed another stranger out of her way as she rushed away from the sounds of screaming. Every once in a while, there was the sound of gunfire, she couldn’t tell if it was getting closer to her, but she just wanted to keep moving. Another stranger knocked into her sending her down onto the floor. People moved around her like water, she took a moment to breath and just stare at the pavement. The sounds of screaming and gunfire began to fade away and V could only hear herself breathing, something wasn’t right. She wasn’t sure why she was running, she had lost track of Gate, and those people were shooting at everyone, _everyone_. She could stop this, she was trying to, but she could do something other than run. V felt a familiar feeling bubble up in her chest, just like the other night in the old district; suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. V turned around to see the face of a scared man trying to help her up. She felt the bubbling stop as she accepted his outstretched hand, behind him another figure approached offering a hand, it was clad in black. V’s focus shifted up to the solider in armor, his gun was being held in his other hand idly. All at once V felt as if she might explode, she pushed the man out of the way and threw her fist at the mans face. Before she could make contact, her arm began to open up and the long sharp blade popped out digging itself into the soldier’s helmet sending blood and bits of black metal everywhere. With a grunt V pulled her arm free of the man’s skull and looked down at the scared passerby “Run.”

The man nodded and scurried away. V looked back down the sidewalk, from where she stood there were three more soldiers in distinct black armor walking around the crowd firing as they sprinted away. V shook her other hand unsheathing a second large blade and began walking back towards the armed gunmen. V tried her best to blend in with the crowd, ducking her head and moving slowly. Eventually she reached one of the soldiers who was pointing out another group. He turned at the last second and raised his arm to block V’s strike. The blade went right through his armor and the rest of his body, his arm fell with a slap; V kicked the soldier in his side, and he fell to the ground. V stomped forward preparing to finish him off, but she stopped short when the soldier turned onto his back and held his weapon up to her. She felt a pang of emotion and she could almost see Gate looking up at her, both of them wet from the rain and bruised from their fight. Two shots shook V free of her illusion and she stumbled backwards, there were two more shots, these sounded different, the man’s head twitched as two spots of black material exploded on the side of his helmet. V looked closer as blood began leaking out of his head “Hey, you alright!?”

V turned to see Gate walking towards her slowly, with a small pistol still aimed at the dead soldier. He school V’s shoulder a little and forced her to make eye contact “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Gate broke eye contact for a second, his eyes darting down “Okay, we have to go now.”

V nodded and tried to move away but Gate stopped her and pointed down at her arms “Maybe put those away.”

V nodded again and shook her hands letting the parts of her arms fold back into place and hide her blades. There was a sharp shout from behind them “Target spotted.”

Gate pushed V away from her as the soldier opened fire, a few bullets struck the ground where they had both been standing, sending bits of concrete up into the air. V covered her eyes and tried to squint through the debris and find Gate, she could only hear him yell “Head back to my place and stick to the plan!”

V tried to find Gate, but the soldier let out another wave of gunfire, she rolled away, further away from where her and Gate were “V, stick to the plan!”

She nodded and ran towards the shooter. The dust and smoke covered her for the most part as she sprinted towards him but as she moved closer, she caught his attention. He pivoted slightly and began shooting at her, she tumbled to the side making him readjust. Before he could fire another volley, V tackled him to the ground and began to punch him in the face. After a few strikes the helmet began caving in, V arched back both her arms and screamed letting the blades pop out again before throwing them both down through the helmet and embedding them in the concrete beneath. V took a few deep shaky breaths and allowed herself to calm down, she took one last look at the mangled head and grimaced before pulling her arms free and running away from the square, back towards Gate’s apartment.

Gate watched as she ran away. He almost wanted to applaud at the way she rammed that last gunmen, he resisted the urge and turned to walk away from the square and towards a sleek black car that clearly had the engine running.


	9. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margery and Gate come face to face for a very tense conversation

Margery smiled as Gate stepped into the car slowly “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Didn’t seem like I had much of a choice.”

“Of course you did, you always did, isn’t that what you were doing when you ran off?”

Gate adjusted himself on the strange seats, refusing to acknowledge her. Margery watched as he finally settled in his seat and stared daggers at her from across the car’s interior, she broke the silence “So what are you doing with the girl?”

“That’s my line actually.”

“I made sure both of you got away safely, answer my questions.”

“Does that mean I actually get to walk away from this?”

“If you stop fucking about with me, of course.”

Gate raised an eyebrow and laughed “So you’ve loosened up a bit” he shifted in his seat and sat forward, legs apart, hand clasped gently in front of him “I’m not doing anything with the girl, we just ran into each other.”

“You ran into her, then decided to travel with her?”

“She’s hard to shake, honestly you and the buzzcuts just did me a favor.”

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“I don’t expect anything of you, besides cruelty.”

Margery leaned back in her seat, she thought she was prepared to face Gate again but clearly living amongst all these filthy normal people had only made him more intolerable. This wasn’t like one of her talks in the operation tower either, Gate was free to do as he please; he could leave, he could stop talking entirely, he could leap at her and break her neck in several ways in less then seven seconds. While she looked for her next move she smiled and pointed at the small black device poking out of his pocket “Feeling homesick?”

Gate pulled the phone from his pocket and waved it around “Just a souvenir from my work in the old district, that ­_is_ what this is all about right?”

Margery smiled “You were always smart.”

“And you were always sloppy, that’s why they never promoted you beyond pet wrangler.”

Margery scratched at the material of her chair. She tried her best to keep a straight face “You know how much I love my pets, why would want to leave them?”

“Maybe because they keep getting away from you.”

“You think the girl is mine?”

“Why else would you be in Night City?”

Margery saw an opening, a way to put herself back on top “Maybe I _have _been given an opportunity to move on, after a clean up a mess or two.”

“What happened to loving your pets?”

“Well when you love something it becomes your responsibly, you need to feed it, cloth it, and when it becomes rabid and worthless you need to put it down.”

Gate looked Margery up and down silently “I don’t see a gun on you, or on your driver” his smirk grew with each work “I also noticed we’re not moving, you don’t want to get away from the crime scene?”

This was what Margery was looking for “It isn’t a crime scene, yet” Margery then produced her own black phone and began tapping on it. She then turned to the screen in the car and Gate followed suit. Two feeds popped up, one showed the square Gate and V had been fighting in earlier, the other appeared to be a phone call attempting to connect with someone named Jason. When the call finally connected a shaky voice came through “H-hello, I’m in the square, Christ what the hell happened here?”

“Jason, calm down and do as I say, understand?”

“Y-yeah, I know” Gate’s eyes shot between the screen and Margery. The way she was speaking to this guy, he recognized it, it was the way she had spoken to him and the other Vs she was assigned to; it seemed different somehow, like she had changed her methods “Now I need you to walk to the center of the square.”

The video feed flickered every once in a while, and eventually a man began stepping into frame, he looked normal, you could barely tell he had augments and mechanical bits from the scratchy video. Gate watched as the stranger gingerly stepped over bodies until he was in the middle of the frame “Ok, what do you want me to do now?”

“Just stand there, be a good toy” Margery said. Gate’s eyes shot back over to her; at some point she had moved back to her phone. He tried to look over at what she was doing but he couldn’t quite make it out, not even the systems in his eyes would help. His eyes shot back to the video, the way the man was standing, his position “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Margery looked up from her phone as if she had simply been texting a friend “Do what exactly?”

Gate forced down his next words, they would be important if he was going to pull this off. He turned to the video feed and screamed “Run, make for the black car with the engine running!”

As soon as finished speaking he felt a small spasm in the back of his head, it then spread through his body. His vision began to glitch, switching between his regular sight and the advanced vision that his eyes gave him. Finally, he slumped to the floor lifeless. Margery watched in terror, she didn’t even notice the small screen diving her and the front seat come down as the man with bright glowing green eyes peeked over “I told you he would do this, when they’re off the leash for too long they cease to be what we made them.”

“Hey, is everything alright, who was that?”

Margery didn’t even give Jason a response, she hit a button on her phone and braced for the muffled boom and shake of the car. Immediately there were screams and wails “Let’s go, we have what we came for.”

The man turned back to face the steering wheel and began to pull away from the scene as police arrived in flying drop ships. They jumped out carefully taking in the scene. The square was now covered in black soot and bits of human flesh from the bomb that had gone off inside Jason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dont know how close I am to the end of this story officially but I can see it creeping it up on me. I'd love to know if anyone would want more from these characters, fandom, etc.


	10. Footsteps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V, now on her own again, begins forming a plan to save Gate and take down the people behind the Vs

When V had finally reached the apartment, she was horrified to find more of the black soldiers all over the block. She didn’t even try to enter through the fire escape window, she simply ducked into a slim alley and tried to catch her breath. She had no way of contacting Gate, of warning him not to come home; she wasn’t even sure he was on his way; he may have already been captured. The thought of being alone frightened her further and increased her uneven breathing. V closed her eyes and tried to calm down, all the clarity that had come to her at the plaza was gone, it had all left when she saw the remains of that man’s head. The image kept flashing in front of her like an oncoming car, sending her head in circles until she finally threw up in the alley. Now struggling to lose balance and fall in her own sick V coughed and wheezed. She couldn’t clear her head, she felt ill, like she was having a panic attack; her mind began looking for something to calm her down. The thought of Gate would just send down the same spiral of worry, the thought of _him_ would probably make her shut down completely. Reaching deep within her memory she remembered Missy and Doc, the quiet of their little clinic. She remembered the love and care they had shown to her, that’s where she needed to go, if Gate was anywhere it would be there.

Taking a few more shaky breaths V spit the taste of her puke from her mouth and peeked out of the alley. The solders hadn’t changed positions but there was no telling when they would. She tucked her head back into the alley and look around, she placed a hand on a small jut of stone and pulled on it, seemed sturdy. V took one last breath, this one deep and slow and focused, like the ones before her exams at the facility. She began to climb like a spider, gripping at any place she could and eventually using her blades to stab into the wall and leap further and further up the walls.

Once at the top of the building she stepped along the edge, watching for any movement with the soldiers and trying to look for streets and turns she recognized. Once she was a few blocks away Gate’s apartment she made her way gingerly back down to street level and continued back to Doc’s building. The rest of the walk was short but stressful; the entire time V had to try and keep herself calm and keep her thoughts full of Doc and Missy and Gate all waiting for her, they would dress her scratches and scrapes and everything would go back to relative normality. Once at the familiar automatic door V practically stumbled through and hollered “Doc, Missy, Gate!?”

Doc ran up immediately and offered her a hand “Hey are you alright, what’s going on?”

“We were… we went to get cloths and we were attacked” V didn’t realize how out of breadth she was till she was supporting herself on Doc’s hands as he led her to an empty seat “There were guys in black armor with guns.”

“Were you at that square” Doc said pointing to a screen on the wall of the room. V looked over at the screen and squinted. She recognized the square, it was being shot from overhead, as if a helicopter were taping it. V narrowed her view further and began to notice the addition of a large black blast mark and tens of police all around the scene “Yeah, what happened there?”

“Well you were there, you don’t know?”

“Clearly not” Missy said coming from some room in the back. She knelt down and took V’s face in one of her hands “You alright love?”

“I’m really tired but I’m not hurt” Missy smiled in response causing V to calm down a bit more “Where’s Gate?”

V watched Missy’s smile slide off her face like water, she felt the calm leave with it “He’s not here?”

“Was he supposed to meet you here” Doc asked.

“No, I mean… we were supposed to meet back at his apartment but when I got there, I didn’t see him, and the place was crawling with those men in armor.”

“So, you thought he might be here” Missy put her other hand on V’s face and furrowed her brow “He’s not here V, but don’t panic.”

Despite her words V couldn’t help but lose control of her breathing again “I’m trying, I’m sorry I’m really trying.”

Doc groaned slightly and left the room entering a small cramped room with a mirror and a sink. He opened the medicine cabinet the mirror was attached to and began running his finger down the rows of boxes and bottle until he grabbed one with some blue pills. With a whistle he tossed them at Missy who caught them flawlessly “She may need those.”

With a worried look Missy looked at V, now sweating and panting and staring at the ceiling, she then looked back at the pills. With a sigh she fished two from the bottle “Open up, these will help.”

V took the pills without a second thought but hesitated when she looked down at them in her hand. Missy gave her leg a pat and moved away “I’ll get a glass of water.”

V stared intently at the two blue pills, she remembered what Gate had said; she shouldn’t need these, she didn’t, but if she didn’t take them the feeling of panic and breathlessness would just get worse, her nerves would just keep on going. Missy returned with the water “It’s nothing fancy but it’ll help.”

The sound of her voice brought V out of her thoughts. She slowly accepted the water and drank it slowly, but she put down the pills “Thanks, I don’t need them though.”

“You’re not going to be able to calm down without them love”

“I don’t need to calm down, I need this; right now, my brain is working a mile a minute, I could use this.”

Doc returned from the small room “What’s she on about?”

“Gate’s not here and he isn’t at home, he might be captured…or dead.”

“Don’t say that, you don’t know that” Doc said flatly.

“I know, I’m just thinking out loud” Doc nodded, and V turned away “I don’t know where he is so I should… I should follow the steps he would, and we might run into one another again.”

“So, what would that entail exactly” Doc said.

“Our next step was to head to my hotel room, he thought there might be something there that could get us closer to the V handlers; after that he wanted to meet with some contacts.”

“Did he mention what kind” Missy perked up.  
“No, do you know what he _could_ have meant?”

Missy hung her head and began kick her feet in frustration. Doc gave a sigh “I might have an idea.”

Both girls looked up at Doc in surprise, he reluctantly continued “Gate always talked about taking down these guys, he always said when he got close he wanted me and Carter by his side.”

“Who’s Carter?”

“Weapon maker, if I’m a people doctor then he’s a gun doctor.”

“So, he would have given Gate the weapons to fight the V handlers.”

“I guess, but don’t go looking for him, he’s dangerous.”

“So am I.”  
“Well he’s a different kind of dangerous, the kind that Gate likes; he’s not just going to have an audience with you and then agree to fight.”

“I don’t need him to, I just need him to get me to Gate.”

“How’s he going to do that?”

V paused at this; she was sure following Gate’s plan would lead her to him, but she couldn’t properly think like Gate, or act like him. If Doc was right with man would be expecting someone that wasn’t her, there was no telling what he would do if she just came and asked for help; and if she threatened him there was no telling how he’d react either. “I’ll come with yah” Both Doc and V looked to Missy who shrugged her shoulders “Me and Carter have met a few times, I could talk to him with you.”

“Thank you Missy but if he’s dangerous I don’t think anyone should come with me.”

Missy giggled a little “Love, the whole city is dangerous, and I’ve been livin it a lot longer then you.” She hopped from her spot and started towards the door “Plus I wasn’t asking.”

V sighed and began to follow her but Doc stopped her suddenly with a grab of her arm. V turned and slowly pulled her arm free “Sorry just, keep her safe yeah?”

V nodded and took one of his hands “I promise” with that she left the building out into a cloud covered Night city. She adjusted her jacket and looked at Missy “So how do we find Carter?”


	11. Armaments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missy and V head off to meet with the mysterious Carter

Far from Doc’s shop and the more bustling parts of the city there was a large collection of buildings. Most of them seemed to be slightly run-down apartments. Kids played with old rubber balls and toys, people sat around and talked in-between cigarettes. V tried not to stare at anyone as she followed Missy into one of the apartment buildings. She noticed that many of the people here had more visible augments, large slabs of metal seemed to wrap around what should be arms and legs and bits of skull “Remember, eyes forward” Missy said, noticing V lagging behind.

She picked up her pace as they reached the door to the apartment. Missy held open the door and made a big gesture. V laughed a little and stepped into the lobby. It was void of any activity. Graffiti lined the walls and there was rubble and dirt everywhere; it was as if the old district had been painted over the lobby of the hotel, she had stayed at her first night in the city. Missy gave V a sharp whistle as she started down the hall. V jogged to keep up “You’re sure Carter is here?”

“Mmhmm, I may have done a favor or two for him.”

“You didn’t mention that back at the shop.”

“Because I don’t need my brother knowing every dangerous thing I do.”

“Missy, are you sure this is a good idea” Missy turned to see V stopped, a serious expression plastered across her face “I mean this guy could be bad news.”

Missy giggled a little “For someone who can do what you do, you hesitate a lot.”

“I just…I get nervous and I don’t want another reason to be, I want to make sure this isn’t a mistake.”

“It’ll be fine V, come on.” With that, Missy continued down the hall with V following cautiously. They eventually made it to a set of metal doors guarded by a very large man in all black. Missy stepped right up to him and gave a large smile “Oh big ol’ Ben is on guard today.”

The man looked down at her then at V. His face was large, cut like slab of concrete, complete with the color. It seemed pale, almost white, like it was artificial; it was also translucent. Bits of silver and metal moved subtly under the skin and a large black visor covered what V could only imagine were some gnarly looking eyes “Long time no see Missy.”

“Well I’ve been busy; but I promised I’d come by at some point, didn’t I?”

“Carter doesn’t want to see you.”

“How do you know that, you haven’t even talked to him” she leaned in, tipping herself on her toes “Unless you have; you got psychic powers now?” 

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Ben smiled ‘You know I only trust you to cut me open.”

She giggled and went to pass Ben and go through the double doors; but Bens large pale hand extended out and stopped her “I didn’t say you could go in.”

Missy frowned “Oh come on Ben, it’s important” she motioned over to V “We got a friend in need.”

V stepped forward and put her hand on Missy’s soldier “_We_ need Carter’s help, a man called Gate is in trouble; he and Carter are friends.”

“In what world” Ben laughed. V furrowed her brow “Listen lady; Gate and Carter have worked together; they’ve traded information and equipment but they sure as shit aint friends.”

“Fine, then I’m here as a customer; I want to do business.”

“Carter isn’t seeing anyone right now, so piss off.”

V quickly let one of her arm blades loose and pointed it up at Ben. He simply raised an eyebrow “Let us in; you and your boss may not care about Gate, but we do.”

“What makes you think Carter can help you anyway?”

V opened her mouth but couldn’t think of a response, not even a lie to try and keep the conversation going. Ben let out a sigh and stepped out of the way of her blade and the door. When neither of them moved Ben pointed towards the door “I’m not gonna stand here and watch you gawk all day.”

“You’re letting us in?”

“You may regret it; word of advice, think of a better story then ‘you’re here to save Gate’”

V nodded and passed him. Missy gave Ben a hug and followed her. Stepping through the door the air went from slightly stale to crisp and cool. It seemed as if the AC was on blast. The room was also dark and empty; very high ceiling, a few thick stone pillars “Quit it with the slack jawed expressions please” V’s head swiveled back over to a man at a table in the middle of the room. He appeared to be looking over a gun of some sort “Make it quick and get out, I’m a little busy.”

Missy gave V a nudge. She stepped forward and stammered for a bit “I’m here because I want someone dead.”

“Very vague; you can give me more, everything you say here is confidential, or whatever.”

“He’s a bad man, who did bad stuff to me; is that good enough.”

“This a boyfriend, dad who was never there?”

“No”

“Is this someone who looked at you the wrong way, snatched a purse”

“No, stop guessing; you don’t need to know anything else.”

“What would make you think that” With a loud click Carter lifted his gun from the table’s clamps. The sound of an electric charge filled the air and a blue light illuminated from the barrel “You think I make these things and just give them to random people who want to knock off some schmuck?”

V lowered her stance a bit and motioned for Missy to get behind her “Whatever you’re about to do, don’t.”

“You know that is _exactly_ what I was going to say to you” he flipped a few more buttons on the gun creating a stronger blue light “Either get out or quit acting so fucking shady.”

Missy stepped forward nervously “Carter calm down, you’re being a little spooky.”

“I’m just trying to make sure my stuff ends up in the right wrong hands, not someone like your friend Gate.”

At this Missy stepped back again. She prepared to grab V and suggest they leave but then she stepped out of the way of her reach “The man raised me” Missy looked up at V.

“When I was a little kid, he and group of shady people abducted me from the streets of some shitty city. They tried to make me forget everything and teach me how to follow orders like a robot. When that wasn’t enough, they started turning me _into_ a robot.”

Carter had begun to lower his gun as V continued “Then the man began seeing me privately, teaching me, grooming me. Eventually I followed his every command without a second thought until he was telling me what to wear and what to eat, and when. Then he dropped me in this city, he wanted me to do a job, but he really wanted to abandon me. Call it petty, call it stupid, the fact is I know he’s done this to other people and he’ll do it again; so I want to stop him from doing it, and I want to kill him for what he’s done for me.”

There was another moment of silence before Carter began to laugh. It was loud and booming but it didn’t seem to take the tension away; it was a slightly twisted laugh “Now that, that is something I can get behind.”

Missy smiled and V seemed to relax, enough to realize she had tears streaming down her face. She quickly wiped them away as Carter stepped forward to join them in the room’s single light. He was tall broad man; only made broader by the black coat he wore that seemed to flow behind him. His dark skin seemed intact, no visible signs of augmentation. “I have to say I’ve heard a lot of revenge stories over the years; your blubbering could have been better.”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“I am, but something tells me you don’t need my guns.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“You’re one of the Vs” she took a step back at this, looking the man up and down “From what I’ve heard they’re pimped out the wazoo, what you need is a way into their building.”

“They’re building?” Missy stepped out from behind V.

“They’re here, in Night City.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know a lot of things Missy; I knew about your friend’s arrival in the city; I also know she’s been making _a lot_ of noise with her keepers.”

V stepped forward again, still steaming “Then you know what they’ve done, what they can do; you know they need to be stopped.”

“Oh, _they_; not _him_?” V hissed at her slip up, so much for Ben’s advice “It’s alright, I’m messing with you; you’ve already earned my help, my trust is a different thing entirely.”

“Terrific, now I’d like to focus on us getting into this place.”

“Well that’s a lot simpler than you might think.”

“Then why do we even need you?”

“Like I said, I know things; truth is the whole fancy gun thing is a side gig, keeps the lights on. What really makes this fun is the people who come through wanting to plan a coup or kill some politician or destroy an entire secret organization.”

Carter turned away and began to tap something on his arm. The rest of the room became flooded in light. From the floor racks of strange weapons came up, other sections rose up to reveal computers and monitors. Carter turned to face one of them and V watched closely as he stepped away, as soon as he stepped out of her reach, she allowed herself to relax and moved back into a more casual stance. Missy pushed past her to join Carter at the computer “So where is the building, it’s gotta be some super high tech well-guarded place right?”

“No way; these aren’t the kind of guys who flaunt what kind of shit they’re up to.”

“So, they’ll be hidden in plain sight, fun.”

“I’ve done a bit of digging on the Vs before, narrowed it down to a handful of buildings” Carter gave the keyboard one last tap and stepped aside. V watched as the monitor blew up with pictures of five distinct skyscrapers. Each looked drastically different and unfamiliar to her, all but one “Any of these jump out at you?”

“Yeah, that one; the hotel.”

“Hotel?”

“It’s where I was instructed to go on my first night here. The whole place ran like one of their facilities; I just thought it was how those fancy places would be, I never thought…”

V trailed off trying to remember every moment she had been in there. The people had all seemed normal, their attire didn’t match the workers she was used to; but even still, they had provided her with the suitcase. The suitcase that had all her instructions, and those pills “it’s the place, I’m sure of it.”

“You better be 100% convinced, not sure you’ll get two guess and I’m not sure Gate will be able to last forever.”

“I thought you didn’t care about Gate” Missy teased. Carter only offered a smirk before moving over to one of the racks of weapons “Now how exactly did you plan on getting in there; and please don’t say the front door, I think I’d have a conniption.”

“Well it’s just gonna be me, I’ve been trained for stealth and assassination primarily; what would you suggest?”

“I get to pick, oh how fun” Carter traced his finger up and down the rows of guns and tools. He grabbed a pistol without a second thought then moved over to another rack, plopping the gun in V’s hands as he moved “I’m assuming you’d be more comfortable with your own equipment but I’d still like to suggest some sort of armor.”

“Okay, and how much is this armor going to cost?”

“Consider it a loan, just bring it back to me when you’re done” With that Carter pressed another button on his arm and watched as another panel rose from the ground to reveal a suit of armor separated into different pieces on display stands. V walked forward slowly and admired the attire. It was all matte black; there was a large vest, gauntlets, boots, gloves, shoulder pads, even a skeletal looking mask. V took everything but the shoulder pads and mask “I have to try and stay mobile.”

“Whatever floats your boat, good luck V.”

“That’s it, we’re all done?”

“Like I said, bring it all back when you’re done; happy hunting.”


	12. Why We're Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gate has a conversation with the mysterious man

Gate woke up with a splitting headache and a nauseous feeling running through his body. While trying to reach for his head he heard a sharp clink, Gate looked down to see both of his hands strapped to the table as well as his legs. With a sigh Gate placed his head back against the cold metal. Realizing he couldn’t move Gate started looking around the room; it seemed to be a large empty room made up of white lights. There were no doors, no guards, not even a piece of furniture; if he didn’t remember what had happened in the car earlier, he would have assumed some rich crazy person had gotten a hold of him. Suddenly one of the walls slid away. Two soldiers in black armor stepped through, large guns by their sides. They moved to reveal a bearded man in all black with glowing green eyes. Every step he took towards Gate made a click that echoed through the sterilized room. At the table, he looked Gate up and down and sighed “If I’m being honest, I was expecting more.”

Gate returned the look but didn’t answer him. He lingered there for a moment, as if he was waiting for a response, but eventually he gave another audible sigh and started to pace around the metal table “Before we go any further I want you to know you should just cooperate with us” Gate rolled his eyes at this, then man didn’t seem to noticed and continued “There’s no way out of this and even if you managed to break out, you’d be gunned down like an animal.”

“Sounds like business as usual.”

The footsteps stopped suddenly, Gate tried to arch his neck and look at the man, but he was directly behind him “Explain.”

Gate gave a little laugh and hissed is teeth “That is what we are to you right, animals?”

“Not necessarily.”

“That’s right; sometimes we’re toys right, or tools, or weapons.”

“Stop being so dramatic” Gate was surprised at this “You think you’re the first person to break free, to try and tear down our operation, to whine and complain about how you’re treated as less then human?”

Gate felt two hands on his shoulders “You’re not special Gate” Now Gate felt a hand under his chin lift his head to meet the man’s gaze “None of you are.”

“So, you just blow all this money on us for what exactly?”

“Entertainment.”

“Bullshit!” The guards behind them immediately shifted and placed their hands on their guns. The man signaled for them to stand down, a smile slowly forming at the corner of his face. He motioned for Gate to continue “You turn people into bombs, send them to kill each other, cut em loose in this city just for fun?”

The man’s smile was brief, and a business-like expression had returned to his face. He gave a small shrug “Is that so hard to believe?”

Gate began to strain against the bands again and the man started to taunt him “We blow people up because it makes for an interesting news day. It’s fun watching everyone scramble to report on who was hurt in the blast, who the bomber, or bomb, was; it’s all so predictable, but fun.”

The man took another lap around Gate before stopping at his side, he took one last look at the man before smirking and turning to leave “I have to admit, you _have_ been one of the more entertaining ones.”

“Then why stop the fun now?!” Gate strained against his restraints again, trying to get the man’s attention. When he stopped, only steps away from the door, Gate relaxed a little.

The man turned and bit the inside of his cheek, he was fishing for an answer. Finally, his eyes shot up at the man tied helplessly to the table and he sneered “Well what’s more fun than the finale?” With that he left the room and the door closed. Gate rested his head back on the table and cursed to himself; he should have made a move, even if it had gotten him killed, he should have done something.

The man walked down the hall feeling fulfilled, now with Gate captured they only had one loose end left. He thought the girl would be easy to track down; without someone guiding her Night City would be too much, she would lash out and expose herself before long. As he played with the idea of her on a news screen in his head a solider approached him suddenly. He leaned in and murmured something in his ear that made the man’s eyes widen. Stepping away from the troop without any acknowledgement the man quickened his pace for the nearest elevator down to the lobby. He passed a few men and woman dressed similarly to himself, some offered a nod or a greeting, but he just continued with his brisk walk. Once at the elevator he let out a shaky exhale and cleared his throat. He fiddled with his jacket and even brushed his hair back, if she really was here, asking for him, then things would be a lot easier than he expected.

Once at the lobby he looked around for the girl. The place looked as it always did however, the same red carpet and gold fixtures hanging from the ceiling; from the few people there none of them resembled V. The man went to the front desk and grabbed the attention of the woman there “Someone said there was a girl here to see me.”

The woman looked him up and down blankly before a small light on the side of her head lit up and a courteous smile washed over her “Yes sir, she said she needed to use the bathroom.” The man laughed a little and tried to hold back the anger bubbling up inside him “I’m sure she’ll be out soon.”

“Which bathroom did she go to?”

“Just down the hall” the woman pointed past him to a set of doors. Without a thanks he turned and walked towards the bathroom, the woman behind him said something but he couldn’t hear it over the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. The girl was so close, _he_ was so close. Finally, all of this could be over, the slate could be wiped clean and he could start a new project with a fresh subject. He promised this time he’d take every precaution; augments form head to toe; a single kill switch, fuck it, he’d install five. He placed a shaky hand on the bathroom door and stopped himself at the sight of it. He took another moment to breath and calm himself; if he looked like he was going to strangle V straight away she’d bolt, better to make it seem like a surprise, that’s what he thought to himself. He lifted his shoulders and gave the door and large push entering the room to find it empty. The only thing that seemed out of place was a vent cover, swinging subtly, hanging by just one hinge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so it's been a hot...month since the last chapter and I'm sorry about that. I'll be back to some semi regular updated for this story up until it's end which is gonna be soon, hope you enjoyed.


	13. You Scratch My Back...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V comes face to face with Margery, who offers her quite the deal

V was surprised when her exit led into a seemingly identical bathroom. She knew from the vertical climb she had to make that she was at least up a few floors, and hopefully far away from_ him_. Climbing out of the vent she looked at the mirror and checked herself. Carter’s armor fit nicely under her jacket, but she zipped up a little, just to be safe. As she messed with her hair she thought about Missy, all alone in an ally down on the street level; it had been her idea to just waltz in. V smiled; she’d be happy to know her plan was going well so far. With a confident step V exited the bathroom and found herself in a hallway lined with doors to rooms, and very little foot traffic. Looking at the number on each door she figured she had only gone up a few floors, it had felt like so many more as she climbed. At the left end of the hall she spotted an elevator. Taking another look up and down the hall V made a break for it, jogging lightly and trying her best not to make a sound she moved across the hall, at one point she had to slow herself down as the weight of the gun jostling on her side made her nervous. At the elevator she gave the hall another looks, now it felt almost ominous. The ding of the elevator opening snapped her out of it and she stepped in immediately. Once the doors closed, she began pulling stuff from in between her pants; she checked the gun, making sure the safety was still on. Next, she grabbed the gauntlets and slid them over her arms, she popped her blades once, tearing through some of the fabric but for the most part leaving them undamaged. As she stowed the pistol back in place, she noticed something, the elevator wasn’t moving; believing she was mistaken she adjusted her ears and listened for the sound of whirring gears or straining metal, but she couldn’t hear anything. V quickly rushed for the buttons, they seemed to be working but every press was unresponsive “It’s V, right?” the question caught her off guard. She looked around before noticing a small speaker built into the display, just above the buttons “ I don’t think we’ve actually me, my name is Margery” the elevator suddenly shuttered and began to rise, causing V to drop to a defensive stance and place one hand on the protective rail lining the small box. Her eyes darted around looking for any sign of a camera as the woman continued “I have to be honest, you and Gate have caused us a lot of trouble lately” V noticed Gate’s name and focused in a little “nothing we can’t handle mind you but, a problem is a problem.”

To V’s surprise the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened with an inviting ding. Outside the elevator was a corridor with black reflective tiles covering the floors, walls and ceiling. At the end of the hall there was a wall made of large television screens, with a single chair in the center of the room. The chair slowly swiveled to reveal an older woman with red hair. She opened her hands and invited V in “I’d like to make a deal with you V.”

Slowly V walked out of the elevator, still ready to strike. Margery watched the girl advance towards her and sighed “Do you plan on keeping _that_ pace?”

“I do.”

“Then can we at least talk while you stroll over here?” 

“Sure, give me Gate.”

“But you haven’t even heard my proposal yet.”

“Fuck your proposal” V spat. Margery raised an eyebrow at this, Gate had rubbed off on her more then she’d expected “I want my friend back, you do that and I don’t bring this place down on top of you like I planned.”

“Oh sweetheart, you’re not in any position to threaten me.”

“Really?”

“I have Gate, someone you’ve made it very clear you’re here to save, and I have control of some _very_ powerful speakers located all over his room; the kind that would make your very sensitive ears explode” V’s stance faltered a bit “and I do mean literally.”

Now in the same room as the woman V looked her up and down. There were no signs of augmentation, just like the other people that controlled the Vs, but she didn’t want to risk it. She dropped her arms and adjusted her jacket “So what’s this deal?”

Margery smiled wickedly “I think you’ll like it” she swiveled back to face the television screens and willed them to bring up pictures of the man. V swallowed the impulse to back away as images of him popped up, along with a video feed of him in an elevator “He’s on his way here as we speak.” V’s eyes shot back to the back of the chair, tears beginning to well up “What?”

“Asking for him to meet you in the lobby, it was smart; I wonder if you intended on meeting him or if you planned on this.”

“What do you mean he’s coming” with a strong spin V turned the chair back so she could face Margery. The look on the woman’s face was serene “Look at you, you’re so pale.”

V took her hand off the chair, the tears now rolling down her cheeks, they felt ice cold. She wiped her eyes and huffed out “I’m not going to ask you again.”

“I mean exactly what I said, he’ll be here soon, another minute or so.”

“What does this have to do with your deal?”

“It’s our deal sweetheart” Margery’s eyes narrowed as she looked into V’s “I want you to kill him.”

V couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. She took a few shaky breaths and began to run her fingers through her hair. She felt cold and tingly and she hated it. Before she had come to the hotel the idea of facing _him_ seemed improbable, she convinced herself that he’d die indirectly or that someone would punish him for what had happened. She didn’t want to face him, there was no way she could. Margery rose from her seat and watched V pace around the room “Why are you panicking, don’t you want this?”

“Why do you want this!?” V continued to feel herself unraveling.

“Because he’s a problem, and unlike you and my former pet I can’t just let him loose and forget about him” her words began to distract V, enough to start calming her down. She pulled her hands free of her hair and watched as Margery began to pace “Since the day we met he’s done nothing be a little prick, he thinks he’s perfect, like he doesn’t make mistakes.”

V nodded “Except for me.”

Margery smiled and pointed at the girl “Now imagine the beautiful feeling we could share if his one mistake were to be his undoing” Margery rushed forwards and grabbed her hands “All I’m asking you to do is what you’ve done a hundred times before sweetheart, kill him; you want to, I know you do; and I want the same exact thing.”

“You’d let me and Gate live, you’d have one of your own killed just because he annoys you?”

Margery gave an almost comical shrug “I never claimed I wasn’t petty.” V began to nod, she _did_ want to kill him, more than anything she wanted to kill him. She wanted to gut him, feel him die, she wanted to make it torture; but at the same time, she wanted one thing more. Slowly V lifted her head “I want to see Gate first.”

Margery smiled, she touched V’s face as if they were family “Of course you do.” She moved towards the computer screens again and changed the display. The video of the man in the elevator was replaced by Gate; he was lying motionless on table in a pristine white room. V let out a relieved breath, her face breaking into a huge smile. Again, she had to wipe tears from her eyes, but this time they felt better, warmer. Then the door to the elevator opened “Well, this is quite the surprise.”

V froze in place, her eyes slowly moved over to the end of the hall. He was just standing there, steps away from the closing elevator doors. Despite what he’d said he seemed calm, like he was having déjà vu. Finally, V turned to face him properly and he tilted his head and offered a smile “It’s been a long time V” he slowly began walking towards them. Margery turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with V, the sight of the man made her blood begin to boil. The man smiled at the sight of her “Margery, nice to see we’re making friends; choices could be a little better.”

“Do it V, right now, shoot him.”

The man laughed a little as he continued to walk towards them slowly. V watched him closely, studying every move he made. He looked just like she remembered; tall, well dressed, and his eyes, she could never forget those eyes. V aimed her gun down the hall, the man’s pace didn’t slow, he did throw up his hands jokingly as if he were turning himself in “You’re not going to shoot me V.”

“You don’t know that.” As she said the words, she felt separate from her body, she was surprised how clear they sounded; no rasp or shake. He looked just as surprised.

“Okay, I’m asking you not to shoot me; please.” The man was now halfway down the hall. V was calm, her aim was steady, and this made Margery uneasy. She had expected the little freak to have killed him dead by now, but he was halfway there. She thought about running, but she’d already played her hand, if he got away now, he’d just tell the others what she tried to do. Margery’s attention shifted to the walls of the hall and watched as the panels slid away to reveal more speakers. The man’s attention broke for a second at the sight of the speakers and before he could react further, they began to blast him with high pitched noise. V took a few steps back, startled. Seeing the man double over in pain was a new one, but before she could process what was in front of her she felt two hands on her shoulders “Now’s your chance girl, I’ve made it so easy for you.” Margery went as far as to take one of her hands and more it over V’s shooting arm “You just need to pull that trigger and he pays for everything he’s done to you.”

“Every unwanted augment?”

“Yes.”

“Every mission and _test_?”

“Yes” Margery moved away, convinced the girl had it in her to finish the job now “Every single evil thing that he did, he’s just on pull of the trigger away from answering for all of it.”

“What about you?”

“What?” Margery was legitimately taken aback by the question. She didn’t even move as V turned and fired into her stomach again and again until the magazine was empty. Margery crumpled to the ground without a sound; with what little life was left in her she saw the man get up slowly and adjust his tie. After that, everything just stopped.

V looked down at Margery’s body. Aside from the blood she looked the same, V half expected her to have some dramatic last word or a desperate attack; but she just died like anyone else “I have to admit I was not expecting that.” The man had closed the gap quickly, or V had been looking at Margery for much longer then she realized. She could feel him just behind her, close enough to strangle her, but she didn’t feel anything “So what happens now?”

“That’s up to you.” he spoke softly, like they were just two people talking in the street “You can take your friend and go if you want to.”

“You won’t try and stop me?”

“I don’t have to, you’ve just killed a very high ranking member of our little club, you know where we operate out of; no matter where you go or what you do you’re going to have people after you.” The man shrugged his shoulders “There’s no reason for me to try and stop you now when someone else can just do it for me later.”

“Someone like another V?”

There was a loud exhale before he responded, “You know you can’t stop us from creating, more don’t you?”

“Why not?”

“Because there are a lot more of us then there are of you.”

V tossed the gun down and turned to look up at the man “You knew I would do this didn’t you?”

He shrugged “Not all of it, I didn’t know you’d find another defective asset or that you’d come here to seek your revenge.”

“But you knew I’d get away, beak away from my mission.”

“I had an inkling; you _were_ one of the eggs we had trouble” he made a small motion with his hands as he fished for the right word “breaking.”

V nodded, she looked down the hall where Gate was being held. The man looked away from her down the same hall “I want you to know I’m not lying about letting you go. The truth is I like it when my subjects run.”

“Really?”

“Really; it’s fun watching them scurry through this city looking for help, desperately trying to defend themselves. Margery likes, sorry, liked to turn he subjects into little windup toys and action figures, they could be made into bombs or wannabe revolutionaries or even up and coming politicians. I just like to watch them run.”

“So, you’re going to let me go so I can run.”

“Imagine how much fun it’ll be. You’ve proven how good you are taking care of yourself, hell you’ve even made a few friends.” V tried not to show it, but he spoke she couldn’t help but picture Missy and her brother, Carter, Gate. She looked back to the man, a big smile on his face; he looked triumphant. She smiled back and carefully placed a hand on the side of his face. Only now did he touch her, placing his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them gently “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it, running around the city with your little friends.”

“It was fun” she answered genuinely “and I _did _meet some great people, I think I love them, I’d die for them” She began to rub his face and she couldn’t help but smile even harder “ and I don’t like the idea of them being hunted by you.”

“You’re really going to try and kill me?”

“I am, I can’t let this opportunity just pass by.”

“Then why did you waste all that time on Margery, why even let me get this close?” As he said this the rubbing grew more furious and he tried to covertly move up to her neck.  
“That’s what she deserved, it’s what Gate would have done to her, but you” V twitched her arm ever so slightly and watched as the man’s face came apart “you get this.” His hands fell limp immediately and V felt the weight on her blades grow as the rest of his body followed. There was a slight gurgling sound that came from his mangled head; V ignored it, placing her free hand on his chest and pushing him off her blades. There was the sound of wet flesh peeling and tearing as the corpse fell to the ground. One of the still intact eyeballs sputtered on and off before dimming out entirely. V gave what was left of the man one last look before moving down the hallway.


	14. Be Something Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V finishes her quest to save her friend and begins to think about the rest of her life in Night City

Gate heard a murmuring as he came to, he didn’t remember nodding off, but his first instinct was to try and fight off whoever was waking him. He strained against the bindings again, they didn’t give but V did step back, a little startled “Hey, it’s me.”

“What?” Gate was stunned to see the girl. For a moment he thought it might be a trick; she was wearing new cloths, looked like armor. She seemed shaken and her eyes were read, speckles of blood were all over her, but she wore a big smile “What are you doing here kid?”

“I’m here to save you, obviously.” she beamed as she went to work on Gate’s bindings. The large plates of metal didn’t move much but V continued to pull “It wasn’t easy, had to get some help here and there, but it worked out.”

“Looks like it” V stopped pulling at the restraints and popped one of her claws “Who’s blood is that by the way?”

“What?” V paused, arm hovering in the air, she took a look at her body “Oh, it’s not mine.”

“Alright, but who’s is it V?” She didn’t answer, she just started working away until the metal popped open. V flashed another smile and tried to head to the other end of the table, but Gate stopped her, clutching at her arm. He could feel her shaking a little “V, calm down; what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m just” she took a breath “I killed them.”

“Them?”

“The handlers, our handlers; the woman, she tried to convince me to join her and kill my handler, then he showed up” she took a pause and another breath. Gate could see it now; whatever adrenaline had been running through her was fading. He shook the arm again making her look over to him “What?”

“It’s okay, you did good. Let’s get out of here huh?”

V choked back tears and struggled to speak. Eventually she just gave a nod and popped the other shackles open. Gate hopped off immediately and took the lead. As they left the room Gate noticed the two bodies but didn’t give them a second thought. He put his hands V’s shoulders and guided her across the room and to the elevator. As the small box shuttered and shook Gate kept his eyes on the door but glanced back at V every once in a while, he could tell she was still shaken up. With a groan he tried to get through to her “What are you thinking about?”

“What do you mean?” The sound of his voice seemed to surprise her.

“I mean you look like you’re gonna be sick” he tried to flash a smile and make a joke “Not having regrets, are you?” When she didn’t immediately respond he dropped the smile and turned back to the elevator door.

“You don’t feel anything?”

“What do you mean?”

V pushed herself off the wall “I mean, we did it. She’s dead, he’s dead; isn’t this what you’ve been trying to do for years?”

“Yeah.”

“So why aren’t you shaken; you’re not worried about the rest of them, or about who might come after us, or even what you’re going to do with the rest of your life?”

“Nope.”

“But why, I don’t get it.”

“I’m just not” Gate shrugged and turned to face V “I know that you might be scared about what happens next, there’s a vacuum now; no goals, no purpose.” V nodded a little “Well that just means you get to find a new one, now you get to be whoever you want to be, that was my goal.”

“Really” V laughed “You mean to tell me that your plan the _entire_ time was to give me the chance to live my own life?”

“Yeah, that’s always the goal when I run into a V” her eyebrows raised a bit “I’ve never been very good at it; people cant stand me and leave, they don’t believe me and get themselves killed; truthfully I never actually got to save anyone before now.” Gate paused and smiled “Before you.”

The ding of the elevator caused both of them to turn around. To V’s surprise there were no soldiers, no trained guns. It was as if the lobby didn’t know what had happened a few floors above them or didn’t care. They both stepped out cautiously and jumped at the door man who gave them a friendly goodbye. V pointed out the car where Missy was waiting. As soon as they got close Missy pounced on Gate giving him a bear hug. Once she calmed down, they loaded in and Missy began to drive them back to the clinic, it was a quiet drive. V looked around for something to preoccupy herself with, she looked around the car’s interior for a bit and her attention finally fell on the view outside the window. As they drove the other cars seemed to streak by, there was next to no sound. The afternoon sun lit Night City to the point that it looked like a star, every reflective building shone and shimmered; she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of a train entering a station, she wonder if anyone like her was on there. Missy poked V’s thigh with a small device, she took it perplexed “What’s this?”

“From Carter, he said you could take any job you liked.” Half listening to Missy V activated the tablet and began to scroll through a long list of descriptions. There were bodyguard gigs, assassinations, _lots_ of assassinations. V couldn’t help but smile “Seems like he wants to make me his hired killer.”

“Well at least he’ll pay you” Gate joked from the back seat. V nodded slightly and continued to scroll. Some of the jobs caught her eye; there were low paying offers for personal protectors, some people looking for private investigators, some people who wanted help getting out of the city. She couldn’t help but hover over each request and feel something, a warm buzz that filled her chest “Hey Gate?” The man hummed slightly in response “I think I know what I want to do?”

“Well good for you kid, what struck your fancy?”

“Just being hired help, literally.”

“Not a bad idea, you could be good at it.”

“I might need a partner.”

“Well I’m sure Missy would love to help you.”

“Yeah Missy is a good driver” the girl laughed form the drivers seat “but I was thinking of someone that knew the city a bit more, maybe had a similar background to me; someone who really gets me and has my back.”

“Sorry to say but that’s a hard kind of friend to find, but I’m willing to help if I can.”

V smiled and turned back to the view of the city, full of people who she could help, full of bad people she could stop, _they_ could stop “Yeah, I think you’ll do okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now this is done. I think this is my second "longer" piece to be completed. The whole reason I made this account was because I had this story in my head and I wanted to atleast put it out in some way, just for fun. I hope anyone who read it enjoyed it, thanks


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